


Libido Lunares

by 27vampyresinhermind



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben is a lunar witch, F/M, M/M, Magic AU, Phux - Freeform, Rey is a sex witch, Reylo - Freeform, Snoke is evil as always, SwoloFic, lunar magic, yoni magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:15:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 45,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14755586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27vampyresinhermind/pseuds/27vampyresinhermind
Summary: Rey is a sexually frustrated twenty-something in search of release and belonging. Plagued by dreams of a man she believes doesn’t exist when little does she know he too, is dreaming of her just the same. One night she realizes that in her quest to end her frustration that she unknowingly unlocks a key to her power. Something inside her that’s always been there, awakens leaving her frightened but curious. Drawn into the world of magic and witches Rey meets Ben Solo, a fellow witch and reformed dark arts practitioner. Entranced by each other and the potency of their combined gifts they become the next target of a powerful dark practitioner, hellbent on taking their powers for his own.





	1. What the Fuck?

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank the amazing [drnucleus](https://drnucleus.tumblr.com) for volunteering to beta this story and for making the chapter moodboards and aesthetics for this fic when I told her about the idea. I hope everyone enjoys the story. I'm having fun writing it and mapping out the plotlines and various mythos I'm gonna be using. Please don't hesitate to drop a comment &/or kudos. I use them like air.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All she wanted was an orgasm. Rey had no idea chasing after one pleasure could lead to so many others. Ben will be there to guide her through the magical world she never knew existed. But what evil lurks just below the surface?

[ ](http://tinypic.com?ref=raxjth)

The old railroad bridge was as rickety as it could be without crumbling into the river below.  It was as good a place as any to stop the lorry. Boots crunched on loose gravel as the ginger driver unfolded his frame from the cab of the vehicle.  He took a deep breath of blissfully clean air before striding around to the passenger side. He couldn’t stop the very literal fire in his eyes as he opened the door for his paramour.  She stood above even his own substantial height of 6’1” without the heels she adored wearing. The blonde bent her head towards his, lips meeting in a brief and poor mockery of the kisses they preferred to share.

“Let’s get this over with darling.”

She wrapped her icy hand in his much warmer one as they walked to the back of the truck.  As he popped the lock on the back door, the smell of the five bodies inside assaulted his senses.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” the redhead bellowed as he clutched a hand to his nose.  This was getting ridiculous. “I can’t wait until he gets over this dirty hippie phase of his.  They smell so much worse than the others.”

She laughed before grabbing on to a foot and yanking hard.  The body slid out of the truck and onto the ground with a dull thud.

“They aren’t hippies, love.  They’re green witches and he says their magic has a more natural feel.”  He watched as she rolled her eyes at him, the only person who’d ever survived after doing so.

“Well I don’t care what they _feel_ like.  I care what they smell like and they smell like patchouli and death.  And that’s _before_ he kills them.  It’s revolting.”

Once more, her laughter filled the air.  The only indication she gave that the smell bothered her as well was the slightest twitch of her nose.

After the bodies had been arranged the way they wanted, the man shot a grin over his shoulder.

For a moment, he merely stood there.  It was always so hard deciding which one to start with.  Then his eyes fell on the Yggdrasil pendant dangling from one thin neck.

That one had been mouthy.  She would do nicely.

Flame shot from his outstretched hands, igniting what had once been a loudmouth witch.  The smell of burning flesh soon overtook its predecessor; an acrid balm to his entire being.  Fire danced across scant clothing and skin alike. Everything was flammable if he concentrated hard enough.  Such was the nature of his power.

The body burned until charred remnants of bones and ash were all that was left.  He adjusted the temperature higher in his mind and then even the remnants took their place amongst the smoldering ash pile.  A breeze spread the ash across the ground like so many dust particles. It wasn’t until that breeze grew colder that he realized its origin.

“Trying to extinguish me,” he arched a brow at the woman behind him, lips pursed as she blew out a chilly breath.

“Of course not,” she scoffed.  “Merely reminding you to let me have a bit of fun as well.”

He stepped aside with a sweeping motion, giving her the necessary room to work her own craft.

From her hands shot an icy blast to make dwellers of the taiga nervous.  The body she’d zeroed in on began to chip and crack at the sudden change in pressure.  The ghostly pallor of the skin took on the brittle look of concrete visited upon by a sledgehammer.  Unable to handle the contrast between the absolute zero of her power and the temperature of the world around it, the body began to fall apart at its seams.  One by one, appendages dropped from the torso that held it all together.

She could feel her blood growing colder with the continued use of her power.  Her eyes glazed with a fine sheet of ice as the body parts beneath her boots began to shatter.  Knowing it would take far too long to dust the ground like her lovely little ginger adored, she recalled her magic to her fingers before whispering the spell into the night.

“ _Praemium_.”

All at once, the frozen former witch exploded.  She’d heard of snipers looking for a pink mist after a shot.  The fine spray that carried itself on the wind after the explosion was hers.

“Cheater,” he muttered beside her.  There was no malice in his tone, only the adoration she knew from him.  Steam floated around them as she placed a kiss to his cheek.

“You love it.”  Her smile brightened as he took her in his heated grasp.  She couldn’t help the girlish giggle he was able to bring out in her.

“Well that goes without saying.  Now what do you say we get rid of the other three so we can head home.  Then I can show you properly how much I love it.”

He didn’t have to tell her twice.

 

* * *

 

 

The dirt and motor oil of the day had been scrubbed away and Rey could finally relax.  She laughed softly to herself as she sat back in the tub. Maybe it was odd to take a shower before taking a bubble bath but when you got covered in grease on a daily basis, sitting in a soup of your own filth wasn’t exactly her idea of relaxation.  And Rey knew she would need to be relaxed if her plans for the night were going to work in her favor.

The bubbles swirled around her chest in all their multicolored glory.  Bath bombs were the best invention ever and anybody that wanted to say otherwise could fight her and lose.  Below the water’s surface, her hand drifted down the planes of her stomach and over the soft patch of hair that directed it where it was needed most.  The water sloshed slightly as she pressed a lone finger against her clit, just testing the waters really. A snort escaped her at the poorly formed pun, thankful she lived alone so nobody else could hear her.

Even with the water, she could feel her own arousal.  Stronger than ever before, it filled her with hope that tonight could finally be the night.

It was a secret she kept close.  No one, not even her best friends, knew.  If the conversation ever steered in that direction, she would either deflect or lie.  She wasn’t even entirely sure why she felt so embarrassed by it. In her younger days, Rey had assumed she was a late bloomer.  Then she’d become convinced that she wasn’t doing something right, that it simply wasn’t a possibility for her. After years of various sexual partners leaving her unsatisfied and faking it and all masturbatory attempts ending in frustration, she’d begun to think she was well and truly broken.

All because she had never had an orgasm.

It seemed strange to miss something she’d never had.  Like a friend of a friend whom you had yet to meet but heard about how wonderful they were from everyone.  At first, the tales of the amazing ‘O’ seemed too good to be true; they couldn’t possibly be real. She only entertained the idea of a passing acquaintance with ‘O’, just the occasional meeting every other month or so to catch up.  Nothing too serious. But now? Now Rey wanted nothing more than to be locked in a room with ‘O’ and to let them have their wicked way with her.

If her night went according to plan, she and ‘O’ were going to be as intimate as any lovers.

Using her toe, Rey pulled the tub stopper so the water could drain out.  As she wrapped her favorite fluffy towel around her body, her anticipation seemed to heighten.  It was as if, on a molecular level, her body was preparing itself. She resisted the urge to squeeze her legs together to try and assuage the ache there.  She refused to tug on her nipples, no matter how much they felt like diamonds rubbing against the terry cloth. All of her denial would be worth it, she hoped, when she finally gave her mind and body what they craved.

Steam billowed out of the bathroom when she opened the door.  The cool air pricked at her skin so she quickened her pace across the hardwood floor.  Rey didn’t bother closing her bedroom door. Despite the fact that she lived alone, something about leaving her door open spoke to some deep-seated hedonistic part of her she didn’t have time to delve into at the moment.  She chanced a look at her bed, messy and unmade, and felt her stomach clench. But the untidiness of her duvet wasn’t the reason her muscles were going haywire. No, that was completely the fault of the device laying in the middle of the mass of sheets and quilts.

The ladies at the shop had said it was the best on the market.  It had rave reviews from every corner of the web. She’d only found one comment that wasn’t entirely glowing and it was more of a wish that it’s necessity for electricity somewhat dampened their adventurous side as they were confined to be at least six feet from an outlet.  Rey almost laughed in spite of herself. Of course, batteries wouldn’t be quite as trustworthy as the grand old power grid. That’s why she’d opted for the much more expensive of the options she’d been presented with when she’d divulged her secret to the helpful women at the ‘novelty’ store.  Her desperation wouldn’t be able to handle it if a battery-powered vibrator decided to up and die right as she was about to discover what it felt like to lose yourself in a bevy of sensation.

With a new and sudden surge of conviction, Rey dropped her towel and strode across the room.  She flipped the quilt over so she had a somewhat flat surface to lay on without bothering to actually make the bed.  Her fingers wrapped themselves around the Wand but she didn’t flip its switch right away. Thoughts were running away with themselves so she focused on the one thing that had remained a constant these past few weeks.

Him.

She didn’t know his name.  It was doubtful that he was even real.  Just some perfect specimen her orgasm-denied mind had created out of spite.  He’d haunted her dreams for longer than she cared to admit. Long dark hair fell to cover dark eyes.  Pale skin that contrasted so perfectly with her own sun-kissed tan. A scar bisected his beautiful face, only adding to the intrigue she felt when he popped into her thoughts.  He was big, she could practically feel how her legs would need to stretch to accommodate him when he settled himself between them. The attraction she felt to his size was odd. Every other man she’d ever been physically drawn to had been lithe, muscular, but in a professional swimmer kind of way.  The man in her dreams was built like a refrigerator, his wide chest and shoulders didn’t taper down to a smaller waist. His frame was built of muscles meant for use, not show. But oh, how she loved to look.

Yes, he would talk her through this experience.  He would help stoke the flame in her body until the resulting inferno burned the whole house down.  And she would lay there happily licking at the fire as it licked right back.

Fierce determination set in as Rey flipped the Wand’s switch, startled somewhat at the intensity of its lowest setting.  Pupils blown wide with want danced in her mind’s eye, urging her to keep going. She obeyed his desires as they mirrored her own.  A cry ripped itself from her throat as she pressed the Wand to her wanting clit. Her eyes remained closed, the better to see _him_ , as she bit down on her lip to muffle her own sounds.

 _No_ , his voice echoed in her mind, _let me hear you.  I want to hear you fuck yourself._

The filthy words her mind created seemed to spur her own desire so she moaned aloud into the empty room.  She could feel him smiling at her acquiescence.

 _Perfect_ , he whispered.

Rey could swear she could hear him as though he were in the room with her but she didn’t dare open her eyes for fear of breaking the spell her mind had created.  She felt weightless with his words in her mind and the Wand at her center. It was already unlike any other time she’d attempted this. Her body was tightening, a promise held in the coils of tension.

_Such a pretty little cunt, just dripping for me, aren’t you?_

“Oh fuck yes,” Rey found herself answering, a broken sob of pleasure more than actual words.  But he would understand. She was so close. Sparks began to go off around his face, a reminder that this was the usual point where she gave up out of frustration.  But, as she pressed the Wand even closer to her aching clit, she knew this time would be different.

_You’re not going to give up this time.  You’re going to keep that vibrator on that perfect clit of yours and you’re going to imagine it’s my mouth.  That’s it, it’s just us now, just let me make you fly._

Rey tried to press her feet against the bed to give herself more leverage but she seemed to slip on the quilt or something.  It was odd, like pressing against nothing at all. She didn’t let it stop her though. Her grip tightened on the Wand as she held it.  Breaths came in pants as she wondered absently if she’d built this time up too much in her mind. Shouldn’t she have orgasmed by now? What if this time just ended in disappointment like all the others?

 _No!_  His shout practically bounced off the walls of her room.   _You’re holding on.  Just let go!_

“Just let go,” she let his words fall from her lips as the coil of tension in her stomach suddenly snapped.  The sparks she’d seen before became brighter, blinding in their intensity that she was almost glad her eyes were still shut tight.  Fingers much larger than her own caressed her skin, touching every part of her with a fire she wanted to feel for the rest of her life.  She heard a scream seconds before realizing it was her own voice. It was everything she’d ever been told it would be. And so much more.  Her body felt relaxed for the first time she could remember. Like she was numb and electrified all at once. The brightness behind her lids covered him from view but she could feel his grin of satisfaction.

As if her success had brought him as much pleasure as it had her.  

Blowing out a contented sigh, Rey opened her eyes.

And promptly screamed all over again.

The ceiling above her bed was only inches from her face, the dusty popcorn design practically reaching out to kiss her on the nose.  Almost as soon as she realized what was happening, her body began to fall. She landed back on her bed with a soft bounce that reminded her of her nudity.  Silently, and breathing hard from both a post-orgasmic haze and from the sudden six foot drop, Rey split her stare between the ceiling she’d come inches from touching and the Wand still clasped tightly in her hand.

Then, in the empty bedroom, her voice rang out.

“What the fuck!”

 


	2. Chapter 2: I'm not crazy and neither are you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey begins to try to find answers to her questions about herself at the local occult shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the response to the first chapter! Now we get to let our heroes meet! And thank you to drnucleus for beta-ing and making the moodboard for the fic!

 

 

Chapter 2: I'm not crazy and neither are you

The store’s name, his own line work, at the top of the inventory sheet was mocking him. The looping calligraphy was supposed to be calming, an evocation of peace and welcome.

But no.

The lettering that read SolOccult Metaphysical Shop was basically laughing at him.

Threading his hands through his hair to push it out of his eyes, Ben started again for what felt like the billionth time this morning.

There were at least five festivals coming up within the next month alone so he wanted to make sure the crystal inventory was well stocked. Danvers was far enough away from Salem that they weren’t bogged down by tourists but the regular practitioners in the area would definitely be flocking in.

They were down to the last box of snowflake obsidian so he marked it down for reorder.  Amethyst and lapis lazuli sales were about to skyrocket so he went ahead and placed a check mark in their respective boxes. Working his way around the shelves in the stockroom, Ben continued to count until he came across a box without a label. Rose must have forgotten it when she’d been organizing the day before.

His intention had been to to grab the box, identify its contents, and mark it on his inventory sheet.

Instead, he’d opened a box full of lepidolite stones and immediately found himself wracked with the memories that had plagued him all morning.

Her nipples were the same soft pink hue of the stones in his hands.

The woman had become a constant in his dreams of late, so much so that he’d convinced himself he was going crazy, looking for her in every new female he interacted with.  Though his dreams refused to reveal her face all at once, only bestowing him with glimpses of her lips or an arched brow, he felt as though he’d known her for centuries. Ben had only been dreaming of her for a month or so and it was usually the same.  Her body language was always tinged with frustration. The way she touched herself felt desperate even to him. He longed to help her reach that peak she continuously fell short from.

And, in equal measure, he wanted to touch her. To smooth his hands across her flushed skin, pluck at those lepidolite buds, sink himself into her waiting core and satisfy every desire she had.

He’d never been able to touch her though. He’d reached out countless times only to find that the woman directly in front of him was somehow still too far away. It was as if they existed on different planes, connected by their minds and desires but nothing more.

But the night before had been different. Ben had been able to sense something as soon as he found himself there with her. The feeling of urgency Ben got in her presence is what spurred him to action. He’d reached out to her with every bit of psychic energy in his being and it had worked! He’d done his best to ignore the tightening sensation throughout his entire body in order to focus every shred of his attention on her. The urgency he’d felt from her at first had morphed into a low-simmering frustration, almost as though she’d already resigned herself to it. Ben knew from his own experience that resigned frustration shouldn’t be normal in the position she was in. There had been a buzzing in his ears as he watched her bite her lip.

His own words came back to him in a rush, the language he’d used in an attempt to get her to _that_ point made his ears burn. Despite the fact that he’d always been somewhat reserved in his own sexual encounters, it was like he knew on an instinctual level that this mysterious dream woman needed it. Knowing that he’d been able to push her across the edge with his filthy words made him yearn for a repeat performance. He could see himself becoming easily accustomed to dirty talk in bed if that’s what it took to get her off again.

 _Great_ , Ben thought to himself, _try not to get obsessed with the orgasms of a figment of your imagination._

“Are you in a trance or something?”

Broken out of said trance by Rose, his employee and sister in all ways but blood, Ben promptly dropped the box of stones on his foot.

“Ow! Fuck Rose, shouldn’t you be up front?”  She giggled softly at his outburst and shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s a slow day and you were taking forever to do inventory. If I can’t throw things at you, it gets boring,”  Ben wasn’t about to comment on the fact that the only reason she liked throwing stuff at him was because of his own special way of catching projectiles. He just rolled his eyes, before squatting down to collect the stones he’d dropped.

As he stood back up, he turned to see that Rose had yet to move from her spot in the doorway. She was looking at him, or, more precisely, his _hair_ with a familiar glint in her eyes.

“What,” he prompted, hoping against hope she wouldn’t start in on him again.

To her credit, she pulled off the innocent look a little too well.

“Oh nothing, I was just thinking about how the Renaissance Faire is only a few weeks away and—“

As soon as the words _Renaissance Faire_ left her mouth, Ben began shaking his head. He didn’t bother listening to the rest.

“No, absolutely not.”  He shoved the box back onto the shelf and proceeded to continue counting.  He could practically hear Rose pouting behind him. “Stop it Rose, it didn’t work yesterday and it won’t work today.”

Rose let out a soft huff and walked around so that he had no choice but to look at her.

“Pretty please?” She reached up to grab at his hair but Ben lightly smacked her hand away.  “But it’s the perfect length now. And I really need to practice my Elven braiding before the Faire. You’d look really cool with some Thranduil or Legolas braids.”

Ben wanted to roll his eyes at her but the look she was giving him was absolutely pitiful.

“Mom gets back from New Orleans tomorrow. Why don’t you just ask her?” His suggestion was met with the most incredulous stare he’d ever seen in his life. You’d have thought he’d told her to kiss a baboon’s ass.

“Are you insane? I’m not gonna ask the High Priestess of the Jedha Lunar Coven if I can braid her fucking hair.” This time, he _did_ roll his eyes. Ben understood that his mother was important in the community but, considering Rose had been around his family for years, her hero worship of the woman could get old sometimes.

“Well, you’re not braiding mine either,” Ben chuckled. Back out in the shop, the bell over the door rang to signify they had a customer. He nodded towards the doorway before looking back at her. “There are customers Rose.”

With another huff, Rose left the storeroom. He waited until he could hear the customer asking questions before resuming the inventory. He had to admit that with Rose distracting him out of his thoughts of the dream woman, he’d be able to finish the inventory with enough time to get started on the ink mixing. Their dragon’s blood ink was a best seller and he knew that Leia would want to do a purification ritual before putting it out in the case. He could have a new batch ready to go for her by morning.

By the time he went back out to the front of the store, Rose was sitting at the counter binding a stack of parchment together with a needle and thread.

She made custom spell books by hand in her free time but Ben let her do it at work because, if customers saw her work, they were more apt to place an order with her and hang around the shop as well.  She’d always been good with her hands when they were younger so it was a treat to see her channel her abilities into something so beautiful. A number of witches in the Jedha Coven owned multiple books she’d made for them so she never had a shortage of people appreciating her work.  Sometimes she’d ask him to do lettering for different pages. He knew how much it meant that she wanted to include him. Bookbinding was something her sister Paige had taught her how to do before she died. The first time she’d asked Ben to do some calligraphy work for a Table of Contents page, she’d had tears in her eyes. This was something she’d only ever shared with her sibling and it spoke volumes of the love that had grown between them in the years they’d known each other.

She was the little sister he’d begged his parents for as a child and he would protect her at all costs.

When he walked over to the counter, Rose turned her body on the stool so that she was facing away from him. Ben wanted to laugh because she’d taken her half-bound book with her and was trying to complete the binding without the flat surface of the counter. He walked around the long wooden case only to have her turn back around.

“Seriously?” To his question, Rose scrunched her nose and proceeded to turn again. “Are you ignoring me just because I won’t let you braid my hair?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her response dripped with sarcasm. She had that set to her shoulders he’d become familiar with when she wasn’t particularly happy with him.  He’d seen that a lot during the ‘dark times’, the nickname she’d given his shit-decision-making years.

“You’re being a child, you know that right?”

Rose continued to ignore him so Ben grabbed the mortar & pestle he used to grind up resins for inks.  If she wanted to be childish, two could play that game.

For the next twenty minutes, Ben proceeded to grind dragon’s blood resin in the most obnoxious ways he could think of to get a rise out of her.  He used far more force than was necessary, he banged the pestle against the sides of the mortar to make even more noise, dropped pieces of resin into the mortar from stupid heights so they clinked as they hit the stoneware.  He even began banging the mortar against the countertop, pretending like the resin dust was stuck to the sides and that was the only possible action that could remove it. When Rose had finished binding the pages together and still hadn’t said anything to him, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Okay!  Fine, you can braid my hair!”  The happy squeal he received at his outburst was worth whatever weird thing she had planned for his head.

“Thank you thank you thank you!  I’ll be right back, my stuff is in my car.  It’s gonna look so awesome Ben, you won’t regret this.” She practically hopped out of the store to get her supplies.  Ben shook his head with a chuckle. The girl could probably get him to walk across hot coals if he thought it would make her happy.  

When Rose came back inside, the bag she was carrying gave Ben a bit of pause.  It was big enough that she could’ve climbed in the damn thing. She saw the look on his face and giggled.

“Don’t wimp out on me Solo, I won’t use all of it on you.” With a heavy sigh,  Ben pushed the lever on his stool that would lower him down to Rose’s height. He sank with a soft hiss as she began pulling clips and combs out of her Mary Poppins bag of torture devices. He grabbed the mortar & pestle off the counter and sat it on the tops of his legs. At least if he continued working on the ink resins, he could pretend they were being productive.

Rose chatted happily about waterfalls, snakes, fishtails, and ropes but Ben wasn’t sure what half of it had to do with braiding, or elves for that matter.  But Rose seemed content to be yanking his hair into whatever she wanted to call it so he just listened and pounded resin into powder. He generally just pulled his hair back into a man-bun to keep it out of his eyes and that was enough. It wasn’t until Rose flopped an intricate looking braid over his shoulder with the command of ‘hold that, it’s in my way’ that he realized how long his hair had gotten. Something about seeing his everyday black hair woven into such an elaborate plait made him smile. It reminded him of the braids his mom used on her own hair when he was younger. That thought made him even more determined to convince Rose to ask Leia to braid her hair. High Priestess or not, Leia loved having her hair braided and Rose was obviously talented as fuck. The pair of them would be a match made in heaven. That Renaissance Faire wouldn’t know what hit it.

By the time Rose released a satisfied sigh, Ben was pretty certain his ass had gone numb.

“Okay, what do you think?”  When she handed him a mirror, he realized she was holding another one as well so he could see the back of his head.  To say he wasn’t prepared for what he saw is an understatement.

Ben quickly lost count of all the different types of braids he saw in his own hair.  Most of them seemed to join up with others in order to create a whole new braid that wasn’t there before.  The braids at the sides of his head disappeared underneath one at his crown. The one at his crown split itself into three other braids that wove up and around until he lost them. How someone could create something so incredible without the use of magic never ceased to stun the words out of his brain.

“Rose,” he sighed. He didn’t see the way her face fell but he felt her disappointment in the energy around them.

“You hate it,” she muttered, making to remove a pin she’d put in place to hold a braid down.  “I’m sorry, I’ll take it out.”

Ben immediately moved his head out of her reach by standing up suddenly.

“No quit it, it looks awesome Rose.” He had to bat her hands away a couple more times before she stopped trying to grab at her handiwork. “I’m serious, it looks really cool. I just wasn’t really expecting it look that great because it’s on my head, you know? Honestly, I don’t know how you do it.” The hopeful look she gave him almost broke his heart.

“Really?”

“Would I lie to you? It looks so cool, I’ll even sleep in it so mom can see it when she gets back and you’ll be doing the whole coven’s hair before you know it.” She let out a relieved puff of air that fluttered her bangs. “Come here you,” Ben chuckled before wrapping his arms around her little shoulders and pulling her close. He planted a kiss to her forehead, something he’d started doing because she said it made her feel safe after Paige died, and released her.

“I told you it would look cool,” she laughed, “and you didn’t believe me.”  She punched him lightly in the shoulder, a reach for her but doable.

“And what a fool I was. Tell you what, since you had to man the store by yourself most of the day while I was doing inventory, how about you head home early and I’ll close up tonight.  We close in half an hour anyway and since it was slow, putting everything back together won’t be too terrible. And, I’ll write it down that you were here for your whole shift so you’ll get a full day’s pay.  Sound good to you?” Rose reached up to fix the placement of one of his braids, which he leaned down in order for her to do, and nodded her head.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were just going to make everything fly into place five minutes after I leave.” Ben placed a hand over his heart as though he was offended.

“Me? Abuse my magic? I would never!” His scandalized tone earned an eye roll from Rose. “Besides, I’ve got to start the resins steeping and it’s way easier to do that by hand.”  Another eye roll as she started packing up her various hair tools made him grin.

By the time Rose’s car started up outside, Ben had made it back to the shop’s catch-all room with his jars of resin powder for steeping.

Originally, the room had been used for the various readings, tarot, crystal, carting, and the like, that the shop offered. Somehow, through the years, it has morphed into an essential oil distillery, an ink mixing and calligraphy studio, and a meditation room all rolled into one. They managed to keep everything in its place and neat though so it never felt cluttered.

Since they hadn’t had a single customer in the time it’d taken Rose to get him ready to battle for Middle Earth, Ben figures he wouldn’t have to worry much about customers this close to closing time. The bell would signal if anyone happened to come in.

On the sidewalk outside, Rey stared up at the sign that read SolOccult Metaphysical Shop like it could give her all the answers she was looking for without her actually needing to go inside.

 _There’s no reason to be nervous._ Rey kept repeating the line in her head but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on her actual nerves. She wasn’t even entirely sure what she hoped to gain from this little excursion. Her hasty Internet search had taken her to all corners of ridiculousness that had her questioning her own sanity more times than she cared to count. An argument could’ve been made that the web query had been unnecessary considering how close she lived to Salem. But the very idea of driving into that historic town armed with nothing but the questions she had barraged herself with all night long seemed somewhat more dangerous to her mentality.  

But when her cursor had hovered over the link for SolOccult, Rey felt an odd sense of peace envelop her. She hadn’t even bothered actually going to the site, too content to enjoy the feeling of serenity for a moment longer. It was like it called to her, pulled her in like a warm blanket.  Maybe it had been the exhaustion talking but she’d copied the address into her GPS and went to sleep.

Standing in front of the place, however, was a completely different story. Trepidation flooded her veins, froze her in her spot, just staring into the large shop window at an impressive crystal display.

The rumble of a car engine startled her with its familiarity. All day at work, she’d psyched herself up in between oil changes and diagnostic checks. The routine of the garage had helped more than anything. No matter what happened, she would always have her job and her boys.

With that thought firmly in place, Rey took a stabilizing breath and pushed on the door to the shop. A bell tinkled above her head but she didn’t see any employees. A voice came from somewhere in the back,

“I’ll be right there.” There was a familiar quality to the voice that Rey couldn’t quite place. But considering that she’d never been in the store before, she quickly dismissed it.  Perhaps her brain was attempting to make her more comfortable in an unfamiliar environment. Rey shifted on her feet, unsure of what she should even ask once the proprietor emerged from the back of the store. What was the protocol for this type of thing?  Was there a protocol?

No internet search could have prepared her for the man who walked in from the back.

His height should’ve made him imposing. He had a good foot on her at least. Rey had never considered herself particularly short but he towered over her. The space around them seemed smaller with the addition of his body. His broad shoulders made her breath shorten. And then, there was the scar on his face. Just like…

Rey immediately shook _that_ particular thought out of her head before it had the chance to fully form. She certainly didn’t need to get distracted like that.

His hair was quite long, or it would have been if not for the incredible mass of braids it had been woven into. Rey felt a pang of jealousy over her own hair, styled in three small buns down the back of her head. It was a style she’d worn regularly since childhood that somehow seemed wholly inadequate now that she was standing in front of a man who looked like he’d just stepped off the set of some Norse epic film.

The first thing Ben noticed when he stepped out of the catch-all room was the presence of magic. It pulsed around the woman standing in the middle of the shop looking like she would bolt at the smallest sound. The pulsing told him she was untrained. A more seasoned witch could control their power much better. Was she in danger? Was that the reason for the erratic cadence her magic was drumming in his head? A protective streak flared to life in him before he had the chance to tamp it down. Why did he feel the need to protect her? They didn’t know each other.

_Right?_

The second thing he noticed was the small smudge of something dark on her cheek. The faint smell of motor oil told him it must be grease of some sort. It made her look absurdly adorable. The white tank top she wore hugged her body like a second skin but the pair of coveralls she had knotted at her waist left everything else to his imagination. Before that imagination could run away with itself, Ben noticed her eyes flit around his head. The movement reminded him of Rose’s handiwork.

“My sister,” he offered as explanation. The girl merely nodded her head to acknowledge that he’d spoken but continued to stare. Again, he caught her eyes and felt as though he had seen them before. Perhaps just her eyes. No, it was _her_ . Her eyes, her hands, just _her_. But why couldn’t he place her?

“She does good work. You’re, I mean, your hair is beautiful.” Had she just almost called him beautiful?  Perhaps her magic was pulsing because her mind was addled.

“I’ll let her know,” Ben laughed softly. “So, is there anything I can help you with?” She hesitated before moving closer. He felt the deep breath she took as though he’d taken it himself.  What was _that_?

“Um, I’m not really sure.” It pained Rey to admit that she honestly had no idea what she hoped to accomplish by coming here. What kind of questions were you supposed to ask when you found yourself floating six feet above your bed?

“Well, you’re a witch. Let’s start there.”

His words stunned her for a moment but she quickly recovered. Witches weren’t real.  Magic wasn’t real. But then, defying gravity without the aid of some sort of feat of engineering wasn’t generally on the list of things classified as _real_ either.

“Isn’t that what everyone who comes into a place like this says?” Her answer seemed to amuse him as he shook his head with a smile. Was it necessary for his smile to be beautiful too?

“I mean,” he shrugged those impossibly wide shoulders of his, “if you want to count every emo kid that walks in here who’s suddenly a Wiccan so they can piss off their parents, then sure. But that’s not you, is it?” His gaze was too intense but Rey couldn’t make herself look away. “You’re the real deal.”

He stepped around the tables of merchandise still separating them. Rey got lost a little in the way he walked. Like some strange, side-to-side gait.

_Now that’s the walk of a man with a tree trunk between his legs._

Where the _fuck_ had _that_ thought come from?

Rey shook her head in an attempt to rattle the errant ideas from it. If the man noticed, he gave no indication.

“What do you mean real deal?”

“I mean you have actual magic, like me. I can feel it in others. Gonna go out on a limb here and say you’re new to your powers.”

In the time it took him to say those three sentences, the rational side of Rey’s brain kicked into warp speed. Magic was _not_ real. She had definitely _not_ floated above her own bed. And entertaining a childish wish by entering this store was a _bad idea_.

“You know what, I shouldn’t have come here. This is crazy. I don’t have magic powers. I just had a momentary lapse in sanity and it seems like you are too so I’m just gonna go now and forget this entire thing.”  Rey forced her feet to move toward the door despite the feeling in her gut that said leaving was the last thing she should do.

Ben knew that he should just let her go. But he’d never felt a magic like hers before, so strong and untamed. If she left now, he might never see her again and it twisted in his mind like a knife. With a growl, he held his hand out towards her retreating form.

The sudden change in the atmosphere made Rey stop dead in her tracks before she realized what was happening. Suddenly, a large piece of quartz hovered in the air in front of her.

“The fuck?”  The words were barely out in the open before another big rock joined in. In the back of her mind, she recognized the crystals as having been part of the window display she’d admired while cowering on the sidewalk. It wasn’t until a third crystal was added in that she realized the entire window display was lazily dancing around her head.

Slowly, Rey turned around to face the strangely beautiful man once more. When she saw that his hand was extended outwards, moving in a slight waving pattern that matched up with the movement of the crystals, her hand flew to her mouth to stifle her squeak of shock.

“You, you’re—how,” she stumbled over every word that made the trip from brain to mouth.

Gradually, so as not to startle her further, Ben lowered his hand and the crystals with it.  The stones made a lovely little circle at her feet.

“I’m not crazy,” he breathed, “and neither are you.”

 

* * *

 

 

Gnarled hands held steady as he deactivated the locking charm on the basement door.  He didn’t trust the rudimentary security mechanisms of keys or deadbolts. Only magic would suffice to keep his prized possessions guarded.

The heavy metal door swung open and his senses were immediately assaulted with the smells of filth. He would need to send someone down to bathe the pathetic creatures soon. Walking down the hallway of barred doors, he almost laughed as pitiful curses were hurled his way. They, of course, bounced right off the digits etched into each door but he admired the tenacity all the same.

The third door from the end practically glowed with the energy of the wretch contained within. It had been gifted with a potted shrub the day before to ensure its magic would be ripe for the taking. They always felt more earthy at a full charge. And if they put up a fight, well, so much the better.

As he moved to lower the enchantments, a sudden bolt of energy hit him straight from the aether itself.  Part of it he recognized easily. He’d spent years cultivating it for his collection. But the other half he didn’t recognize, which could only mean one thing.

“It would seem,” he spoke aloud to himself in the darkness of the hallway, “my erstwhile apprentice has finally found his match. And soon I shall have them both.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading. Be sure to subscribe for updates and hit that kudos button and leave a comment or two! I'd love to hear from you!


	3. Chapter 3: What do you mean three?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey tells Poe and Finn, and Ben begins testing her for what kind of witch she is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you to my beta editor and moldboard creator [drnucleus](https://drnucleus.tumblr.com)

 

 

 

**Chapter 3**

Rey sprinted through the garage towards the back of the building where the employee lounge was. The shop had just closed so she knew her boys would be hanging out in there before they went home.

She had, quite possibly, the most important news of her life so she intended to share it with the most important people in her life.

Well-oiled hinges made no sound as Rey practically hopped into the lounge. But the sight that greeted her made her stop in her tracks.

A tangle of limbs and mouths set her face aflame. She’d seen the boys kiss before, they never shied away from the affection for each other. But seeing them in a full-blown make out session where they seemed seconds away from ripping each other’s coveralls off was a completely different story. The way they kissed looked primal, as though they hadn’t touched each other in days or weeks. Rey watched the press of lips against skin with a mixture of arousal and jealousy.

The jealousy wasn’t exactly new. She’d always felt a tiny bit envious of the love the two men shared. The arousal, however, came as a shock. Of course, over the past few days, she’d found herself getting turned on at everything. It was different from normal ovulation arousal.  It had felt different ever since the night she’d orgasmed for the first time. The memory of what had followed that orgasm, and the meeting it had prompted, brought her back into the lounge and out of her own head.

Rey cleared her throat and giggled as the two broke apart. At least Finn looked mildly ashamed at being caught, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. Poe, on the other hand, looked as smug as smug could be. He brushed a thumb across his swollen lips with a smirk.

“Finn,” Rey tsked, “what do you think the boss would say if he knew you were in here snogging your boyfriend like your life depended on it?” Finn’s blush deepened, turning his already dark skin a shade darker.

“I don’t know Rey, maybe I should check. Poe, what do you think?” Rey smiled as Poe paced back and forth, motioning with his hands as though he were weighing pros and cons.

“You know what,” Poe pointed at the sign on the wall that read Dameron Automotive and smiled, “I’m good with it.”

Rey rolled her eyes as Poe lunged for Finn once more, making an absolute fool out of himself as he sloppily kissed and groped his partner. Finn laughed as Poe finally gave up his antics and placed a chaste kiss to his cheek. She sat down at the table closest to them and waited for them to remember she was there.

“Okay Rey, what are you doing here on your day off?” Poe’s question brought with it a flood of memories.

_“I’m not crazy,” he breathed, “and neither are you.”_

_She should run. She should scream. She should run and scream. But Rey didn’t do either of those things. In fact, she did just the opposite._

_Silently, she stepped away from the door, over the little circle of stones he’d created, and towards him. It didn’t make any sense. Somehow, this behemoth of a man who could make things float with his fucking mind made her feel safe. She remembered the feeling of peace she’d had when she’d found the link to the store the night before. Was this man with his abilities the cause of it?_

_“Um, I’m Rey. I floated last night and I don’t know anything about this stuff but I found a link to this shop’s website so here I am.” The man nodded at her and waved his hand. She heard a thunk behind her and when she turned to see the cause of the sound, she saw that the crystals on the floor had returned to their place in the window display._

_“Well I’m Ben. My mother and I own this place. I’m glad I convinced her to get a website made now.” Ben smiled and Rey felt her trepidation from earlier melt away. Why did she feel safe with this complete stranger? On the day’s list of things that didn’t make sense, it felt like that wasn’t as high as other more obvious items but still equally important._

_“You said you could feel that I’m a witch. What does that mean?” Ben grabbed a pen off the counter and used it to scratch his head. Rey guessed that reaching one’s scalp through all the braids couldn’t be easy with such large fingers. They looked perfect for reaching other things though._ Stop it Rey!

_“Other than being telekinetic, I can sense magic in others. Yours is strong, if all over the place. You need a teacher.” Rey, being self-taught in almost all aspects of her life, fought against the urge to take offense to his last statement. He seemed to catch on to her offense despite how she tried to hold it back. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I could show you, if you want.” His lips looked incredibly soft from this angle. If she just leaned in, she could have a taste._

Get ahold of yourself, _Rey chastised herself. This man, this Ben, was offering to help her and all she could think about was using his many braids as a handhold to keep his face locked with her own._

_“What would you show me?” She knew her tone was breathless but she hoped that Ben would chalk that up to nerves or something._

_“First, I would need to know what kind of magic you have. There are all sorts of magic, and all sorts of witches to use them. You said you floated. What were you doing before that?”_

_Rey felt her throat close up at the question._ Like I’m gonna tell the hot magic man I was having a ménage a moi before I almost kissed my ceiling _, she thought to herself. There wasn’t any way masturbating could be connected to all of this anyway._

_“I’d rather not say,” she hedged. Ben shrugged his ridiculously wide shoulders, unperturbed by her non-answer._

_“That’s okay, give me a day or two and come back by. I’ll get some tests ready for you and we can go from there.”_

Rey shifted her in seat, somewhat uncomfortable with the incredulous stare both men were giving her after her loose recounting of her meeting with Ben and finding out that she was a witch of some sort.

Then suddenly, as if a dam had burst, Poe and Finn began to laugh so hard they had tears in their eyes.

“Oh my god Rey, that’s hilarious! Sunshine, have you been breathing in exhaust fumes?” Finn reached across the table to press his hand against her forehead as if checking for a fever. She batted his hand away with a huff.

“I’m serious guys, I’m a witch. Weren’t you listening? I fucking floated above my bed!” Her protests only seem to make them laugh harder. Poe clutched at his chest like it was in pain but it didn’t stop his mirth.

“Honey I think living this close to Salem has finally gotten to your head.” Poe’s eyes crinkled with each childish giggle he released.  After listening to their laughter for a moment more, Rey stood up.

“You know what, I didn’t exactly expect you to believe me but I sure as hell didn’t think the two of you would make fun of me. I had hoped to share this with my brothers who have always been nothing but supportive of me. Let me know when they show up. Until then, you two can fuck off.”

Rey slammed the lounge door on her way out to the complete shock of the men she’d left sitting there.

“Okay,” Poe began, his thumb lightly rubbing circles in the back of Finn’s hand, “maybe we were a little harsh.  But seriously, what the hell was that? Did Rey join a cult when we weren’t looking?”

Finn raised Poe’s hand up to his lips to place a featherlight kiss there. “We’ll keep an eye on her, make sure she’s okay. And we should apologize to her tomorrow. The only time I’ve seen her that angry is when I tried to hold her hand all the time when we were kids.” Poe smiled at that information.

“You can hold my hand anytime babe.”

 

* * *

 

 

Rey had calmed down considerably by the time she reached SolOccult later that day. She knew she was much earlier than the time Ben had texted her to be there but she couldn’t just sit around the house doing nothing until then. Plus, if she was being honest, she wanted to see him again. After he’d told her to give him a day or two to compile some tests for her, they’d exchanged phone numbers so he could let her know when he was ready.

She’d gotten the text early that morning and had been on pins and needles ever since. Thinking that telling Finn and Poe would calm her nerves, she waited until the garage closed to ensure they would be the only people around when she broke the news. Perhaps she’d jumped the gun in telling them before she even had any semblance of control over these powers she seemed to have. But having the two men she adored, the only real family she’d ever had, outright laugh at her hadn’t felt great.

Maybe Ben could teach her how to make things float like him and then Finn and Poe would eat their words!

When Rey pushed open the door to the shop, the first thing she heard was a squeal of excitement.

“Oh my god, you’re Rey! Ben, your girlfriend’s here!” Rey stared at the tiny Vietnamese woman behind the counter yelling towards the back of the store. How did she know who she was? Had Ben talked about her? Had she just called her his _girlfriend_? “You even have the bun thing he talked about! You’ve got to let me do your hair sometime. Ben said you liked what I did to his the other day. You would make an amazing Arwen. And you’re a witch too! That’s so cool. Ben hasn’t shut up about you since the other day. I’ve never seen him like this before. It’s pretty adorable.”

This woman was the one who had put Ben’s hair into that elaborate display of braids?

“You’re Ben’s sister?” Rey managed to get out in between the woman taking a breath for another round.

“He kind of adopted me when we were younger and it stuck. I’m Rose, nice to finally meet you.” Before Rey had the chance to respond, Rose ran around the counter and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, enveloping Rey in a hug so tight she couldn’t breathe for a minute.

“Rose, don’t make me un-adopt you.” At the sound of his voice, Rose released Rey from her hug. Ben was standing there in the same doorway he’d emerged from a few days prior. Maybe that was his office or something. His hair was noticeably out of its former elven glory, pulled half up into a bun much resembling the ones she wore in her own hair.

He still looked heartbreakingly beautiful.

“Ben she’s so pretty! I mean, I know you said she was but wow!” Rey felt a blush traveling up her neck to her face over Rose’s words. She’d always considered herself to be attractive but hearing that someone else found you attractive as well had an ego-boosting quality to it. It also had something to do with knowing that that someone else was a person she’d happily lick frosting off of.

Unaware of Rey’s inner thirst, Ben grit his teeth at the smaller of the two women. “Shut _up_ Rose.” Rose, completely unaffected, snorted in response. “Rey, I didn’t expect you to be here yet.”

Rey pulled herself out of the fantasy she was currently entertaining, of covering Ben in chocolate body paint so she could suck every last drop from his skin, and looked up at the subject of her fantasy staring at her with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Sorry what?”

“I mean, I thought I’d texted you to be here closer to closing. I don’t want my family scaring you off or anything.” Rey smiled when Rose stuck her tongue out at him. It reminded her of the way she acted around Finn and Poe.

“If I get scared of Rose, I’m probably not cut out for this in the first place.” Rose’s mouth fell open in indignation.

“Hey, I may not have magic powers outside of spell work but damn it, I’m ferocious! I have a taser and everything!” Her declaration had both Rey and Ben snorting with laughter. Ben shook his head.

“See what I mean? You should be glad my mom isn’t here. You’d be wishing for that taser right about now.” Rey rolled her eyes. She had a problem believing a woman who raised someone like Ben could be dreadful. But, then again, she didn’t _really_ know Ben.

Sure, being around him felt right, like coming home, but who’s to say that feeling wasn’t just because she was new to his world and he’d offered to be her guide?

“I thought I could come by early and look around. I’ve not exactly frequented these types of stores since I’ve lived here. Didn’t want to fall too far down the rabbit hole I suppose.” Ben’s mouth quirked at the and she found herself getting distracted by the fullness of his lips. Plastic surgeons could work off of a model of his lips.

“Seems like the rabbit hole found you anyway. Magic always finds a way.”

The look in his eyes was so intense. It felt like he was staring into her soul.

What if he could read minds along with making things float? What if he knew every inappropriate thought she’d had about him since they met?

_Fuck._

“Guess so,” Rey whispered.

His eyes, like his lips, weren’t even in the realm of fair to the general populace. They were black coffee, with a sprinkling of matcha tea stirred in. How did anyone manage to look at this man without becoming lost? Was this how spells worked? Was she under his spell?

“If you uh, if you give me a few minutes to do a cleansing on my cards, we can get started.” Rey didn’t have a clue what that meant but she nodded all the same. As Ben disappeared once more into that back room—maybe one day she’d get to take a peak in there—Rose cleared her throat. The sound made Rey jump as she was reminded of the woman’s presence. Rose was staring at her with a mischievous glint in her eyes, like she knew a secret Rey wasn’t privy to.

“So, um,” Rey searched her mind for some topic, “can you make things float too?”

When Rose’s eyes went wide, Rey worried that perhaps her question wasn’t appropriate. Maybe witches didn’t talk about their powers in public places. Did witches have taboos? Why did there have to be so much she didn’t know?

Before Rey could further chastise herself, Rose started giggling. Her giggles became full tilt belly laughs in no time at all.

“Oh god,” she wiped her eyes as the giggles began to subside, “I’m sorry for laughing. I promise it’s not at you.” Rose paused then, choosing her next words carefully. “It’s just, for Ben to break out the telekinesis _already_? You must be even more special than I thought.”

Rey didn’t know what to make of that exactly.

“To answer your question,” Rose continued, “no, I can’t make things float. I mean, I’m sure there’s a levitation spell I could do but that’s about it. Some witches, like Ben, are born with magic. Others create their magic through spells, enchantments, potions, all sorts of stuff really. I’m in that second category. Wanna see?”  Rose seemed excited at the prospect of showing her whatever it was so Rey nodded her head and followed the woman back to the counter she’d been seated behind when she’d entered the shop.

Without Ben there to look at, Rey actually took notice of her surroundings. The counter was actually a long case. It had shelves on the front for merchandise to be displayed. Rey could see different herbs arranged in small bags, labels clearly identifying the contents inside. There were smaller versions of the crystals that were still on display in the window out front. She also saw some charms that resembled moons, stars, the female form. It somewhat baffled her how much she’d not paid attention to simply because Ben had been there before.

Rose grabbed a book and, after flipping through to the middle, handed it to Rey. As she looked down, all of the letters and pictures on the page seemed jumbled together, like ink had bled through from other pages or multiple pages’ worth of writing had be squished onto the one page.

“Can you read it,” Rose asked.  Rey shook her head as she sat the book on the counter between them.

“Not even a little bit.” Her answer seemed to make Rose happy, if her squeak and clapping was anything to go by.

“My sigil worked then!” Rose did a little hop that made Rey smile. Ben’s sister was quickly becoming her favorite person. “Okay, now watch this.” Rose held her hand over the page and breathed slowly for a moment. As she did, Rey looked at the page beneath the girl’s hand. All at once, the letters began to shift into legible words and pictures before her eyes. Rey couldn’t hold back her gasp as she grabbed the book again.

“What the hell was that?” Rey’s incredulity seemed to make Rose even happier.

“It’s a privacy sigil,” she explained. “A sigil is a symbol infused with magical energy.” Rey followed her finger as it pointed to a small picture in the top corner of the page that resembled a crop circle more than anything else. “Sigils can only be broken by the witch who created them or by a more powerful witch. I haven’t made one yet that Ben can’t crack but considering he taught me how to make them in the first place, that’s not really surprising. This is my spell book so I use that sigil to keep my stuff private. Do you have a spell book yet? What am I talking about? Of course you don’t. You don’t even know what kind of witch you are. That’s why you’re here. Good job Rose. Anyway, I make spell books for a lot of witches so if you’d like me to make you one, just let me know.”

Rey pushed the bit about sigils off to the side of her mind for a moment and focused on the last bit of Rose’s rushed monologue. She’d _made_ this book?

“You made this?” Rey quickly turned the book over in her hands, studying the details with rapt attention. It was beautiful. “This is incredible Rose. As soon as I figure out where I’m at in this little world of yours, I would be honored to have a book like this.” Rose’s cherubic face blushed at the compliment.

“Okay, you ready to go?” Ben materialized out of nowhere beside them which made Rose punch him in the arm. Rey coughed to hide her own laughter as Ben rubbed the place on his bicep with a wince.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Rose groaned at him. “Honestly, how does someone as big as you move that quietly? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Of all the things that don’t make sense about me, moving quietly is the one you pick to punch me over?” Ben’s question was met with Rose blowing a raspberry at him.

“If you scare Rey off, I’ll punch you over a lot more. I like her. Can we keep her?” Rose bounced on the balls of her feet as though she were asking about taking in a stray kitten.

“You saying shit like that is gonna scare her off,” he retorted. Rey shook her head but was unable to keep her laughter under wraps again.

“Hey you two, I’m not exactly a skittish animal. And I’m right here,” she reminded them. Rose looked mildly ashamed but Ben just foisted the messenger bag he was carrying a little higher on his shoulder. “Wait, where are we going? I thought we were doing your tests and stuff here?”

“There’s a park close by that I thought might work a little better for some of the tests I’ve got planned. Is that okay?” There was a slight tick to his jaw that made Rey think he was genuinely nervous that she might back out. Ultimately, she decided, whatever tests he had in mind would help her through this transition. She trusted him, probably too much already considering that they’d only just met a few days ago, but that part didn’t matter so much to her now. What mattered was that Ben was going to help her, to teach her, and she had a feeling that she’d follow him no matter where that led.

“Of course that’s fine. Let’s go.”

Rose hugged them both before they left, something she had a feeling would be happening more and more frequently as she spent more time with the girl, and then they were on their way to the park.

 

* * *

 

 

“You want me to do what now?” Rey stared down at the dead flower Ben held out to her. Even he seemed to find his request odd.

“Revive it. A green witch thrives on nature, communing with it, letting it flow through them to charge their power. If you’re a green witch, you should be able to make this flower come back to life.” Rey still looked skeptical. Ben chuckled softly and held the flower out to her again. “Just take it. Close your eyes and imagine the park feeding your soul. Let that, in turn, feed the flower.”

Rey fought against her desire to roll her eyes. She wasn’t going to tell Ben that she’d once killed a succulent by watering it too much. The idea of being able to make plants live through sheer will was appealing to her though, so she closed her eyes and followed his instructions.

It was odd, trying to imagine the park feeding her soul. What was that even supposed to feel like? An energy, she guessed.

In any case, she didn’t feel anything but the night breeze on her skin.

“Okay, you can stop now. You look constipated.” Rey opened her eyes and shot Ben with a glare that had him raising his hands in surrender.

“I do _not_ look constipated,” she huffed as she threw the dead flower right at his face, “and you aren’t funny.” Ben shrugged as if to say ‘agree to disagree’ and smiled. Why did his smile have to be so beautiful?

“Green magic is the most common so I figured it would be the best place to start. Now we know we can mark that off the list.” A lock of hair fell across his face, mirroring the scar there. Rey was struck with the same sense of déjà vu she’d felt that first day in the shop. Why did he feel so familiar, like her mind and body _knew_ this man she’d only met a few days ago?

Ben looked out over the treetops, smiling as he felt the moonlight on his face. He’d purposely gone without meditating the night before in order to show this side of his magic to Rey. He found himself hoping that she would be a lunar witch. The night in question, when she’d said she floated, had been a full moon. But most lunar witches’ powers, like his own, revealed themselves at quite a young age. Rey was definitely not a child. The woman standing in front of him carried a magic so raw, so perfect. If Rey was lunar, teaching her everything he knew would consume him, and he’d let it do so happily.

But the seeker of knowledge within him relished the idea of her magic being something other than his own. He would learn everything he could about whatever her classification turned out to be so he could teach her effectively. Teaching her would require them to spend time together, time in which the attraction he saw in her eyes would hopefully grow. He knew that he had never met anyone like her before, not even during his years at the self-styled _Supreme Leader’s_ right hand. Qualities he’d once admired as confidence and power he now recognized as pretension and evil.

With Rey, there was none of that. Only pure power and an eagerness to learn. Ben could make sure that she was kept safe from those who would seek to use her, steal from her. The protective urge he’d felt upon meeting her was back with a vengeance but it didn’t bother him anymore. Whatever it took, he’d keep her safe from harm until the time came when she no longer wanted his help. He hoped that day would never come.

“So what’s the next test?”

Her question jarred him back to reality. In the time it had taken him to mentally wax on over Rey’s magical future, and how he could insert himself into it, the moon had risen much higher in the sky.

“Have you ever meditated before?” Her eyebrow quirked up, as though she was having trouble imagining him meditating.

“Like yoga? I tried it once at the gym but the guy who taught the class was a slime ball so I didn’t bother after that. What does meditation have to do with magic?” Ben sat down on the grass in front of her and motioned for her to do the same. He waited until she’d situated herself before bringing her attention to the moon overhead.

“All witches have to recharge themselves. The way a witch recharges depends on the type of magic they have. Remember how I said a green witch’s magic is charged by being in nature? Well, I’m a lunar witch, so meditation beneath the moon is how I recharge. The night you floated was a full moon so I figure this is the next obvious theory to test.”

While the lamplights the park used cast a glow around them, the moonlight made her breath come up short. Or rather, the sight of Ben under the moonlight. Rey watched him close his eyes and place his hands palms up on his knees. She knew she should be copying him, attempting to use the moonlight to recharge, as he’d said, but being able to openly study his face was too seductive to pass up. He looked so peaceful, like he was at one with himself. It was the peace of someone who knew their place in the world. He knew his power, how to control it, how to bend it to his will. And here he was, trying to teach her to do the same.

The urge to kiss him only seemed to grow with each passing moment.

Rey decided that she should probably stop staring at him before he opened his eyes and caught her. Quickly, she mirrored his body language and tried to feel the power of the moon flowing through her. She imagined what it would feel like, to be filled with that light and to be able to use it in the same way Ben could.

But there was nothing. No feeling of light, or power, or anything.

“It’s okay.” His voice made her open her eyes once more. When her gaze met his, Rey could swear his eyes were lighter than before. His skin seemed brighter, like something within him was glowing. She wondered how he could tell that her own meditation hadn’t had the same effect as his. “I can feel magic, remember? If you’d been able to use the moon to recharge, I would’ve felt it. Your magic feels the same as before.” Before Rey had the chance to be disappointed that they didn’t share the same form of magic, Ben started to rummage around in his bag. “Have you ever been burned?”

“What?” The question was certainly out of left field.

“Pyromancy was my next test. A pyromancer can’t be burned though. So if you’ve been burned by anything before, stove top, flat iron, hot water, we can skip that test.” Rey shifted so that she could lift her pant leg up and pointed to a small scar across her shin, white and smooth against the tan of her legs.

“Motorcycle exhaust pipe a few years ago. That’s the worst one but I get burned on an engine at least once a week. So being a fire starter is out then?” Ben chuckled softly before pulling a bottle of water out of his bag.

“Yeah, but the other end of the spectrum is still possible. Cup your hands for me.” Rey watched as he took a draw from the bottle before pouring some out into her hands. She stared for a bit too long at the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. The clearing of his throat caused her to turn her eyes back to the little puddle in her hands.

“Other end of the spectrum? Like ice?”  Ben nodded his head.

“A skilled cryomancer can create ice instantaneously. But untrained, like you, freezing water is good place to start.”

Rey understood what he was asking of her so she nodded her head. She focused every bit of her energy on the water slowly leaking through her fingers. She wanted to stop it. To slow its molecules down to a crawl until she held a piece of ice between her fingers. She cupped her hands tighter, to keep it from escaping, and thought of every cold thing she’d ever come in contact with. The tundra, Antarctica, snow, permafrost, absolute zero, hypothermia, frostbite, blizzards.

It wasn’t until she had to gasp for air that she realized she’d been holding her breath. The water in her hands was gone.

But the water in her eyes decided it was the perfect time to overflow.

“This is so stupid,” she cried, wiping wet hands at wet cheeks. “I’m going to be the most useless witch ever. Maybe floating was just a fluke. A one off and I’m not even magic at all. What the hell am I supposed to do Ben? I don’t know what to do.”

It happened so fast. In one second, Ben wanted nothing more than to wipe her tears and comfort her, to tell her that they would keep testing until they figured out what she was. He pulled her into his lap with ease but the second their skin touched, they were both frozen still by the visions that wracked their minds.

_A Wand pressed against her center, hands caressing her breasts, his scar, her pebbled nipples, filthy words spoken in her ear, the urging command to let go, the blinding light, the crash._

Rey scrambled out of Ben’s lap as the vision ended, staring at him with widened eyes. His own gaze was a mirror of hers.

“It’s you.” Their voices mixed together in the night creating a melody of awe.

“You’re the one I’ve been dreaming about,” Rey whispered.

“I thought I’d made you up in my head.” The graveled tone in his voice, so much like the voice he’d used in her mind, sent a streak of lust directly to her core. “You were masturbating when you floated. Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

Rey scoffed.

“For one thing, I didn’t think it was relevant. And for another, I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell the hot magic man who’d just made a bunch of shit fly around my head that I’d floated right after having a ménage a moi! The first successful one, since I’m apparently sharing now!”

Ben tried to ignore the fact that she’d just called him hot and focus on the fact that she’d just confessed to not only floating during masturbation but after having her first orgasm. Knowing that he’d been able to, even unknowingly, help in that aspect sent a surge of pride through him. Not to mention all the blood that went south and the mere thought.

Quickly, Ben reached into his bag and grabbed the small bag of crystals he carried with him at all times. Thinking back, he should’ve just started with these but he merely chalked the slip up to the fact that he’d gotten to spend more time with Rey by using the methods he’d employed so far. Rey watched him closely, chest rising and falling with each breath she took, as he arranged each crystal in his hand. Carefully, he focused his power and made each crystal float in turn until they circled the air between them.

“Are you just showing off now?” There was a tiny bit of irritation in her voice mixed with a childlike wonder. He’d never really thought of using his power as a way to show off but if it made Rey sound like that, he’d have to do it more often.

“Do you trust me Rey?”

“Yes.” Her answer was out in the open between them before she’d even given it any thought.

“I think I know what kind of witch you are. This is really just to confirm it. Close your eyes one more time and when you feel ready, reach your hand out.”

Rey once again closed her eyes. After a moment, she felt a pull from just below her stomach and she reached out. Her hand closed around a smooth stone and she opened her eyes to see an orange stone in her hand. Ben grabbed the stone and smiled. He let it go and she watched it float back into the swirling circle of stones between them.

“What—”

“Again,” Ben whispered. Rey ignored his interruption and closed her eyes again.  She didn’t wait before reaching out and grabbing at the stones again. Once more, the stone in her hand was that same orange one from before.

“Is this supposed to mean something,” she questioned quickly so he couldn’t interrupt again. His answer came in the form of him closing his own eyes before reaching out. Rey watched his large fingers close around a pale white stone that practically matched his skin. With a satisfied smile, he let the other stones fall to the ground.

“This,” he held his rock between them, “is a moonstone. It’s the crystal for lunar energy. The crystals don’t lie Rey.” She looked down at the smooth crystal in her hand like it was supposed to hold all of the answers.

“So what is this one?”

“Carnelian,” his answer was whispered, as though he couldn’t believe it himself. “It’s the crystal of sexual energy. Rey, you’re a sex witch.”

Rey blinked in disbelief. That didn’t make any sense at all. She’d had sex plenty of times and never once had she floated. As she voiced this, Ben shook his head.

“Sex magic isn’t charged by sex, but by orgasms. You just said that night was the first time you’d ever orgasmed. That’s why you floated. Your magic finally had the release it’s been seeking your whole life. This is incredible. I’ve never met a sex witch before. Yoni magic is practiced in a lot of circles but an actual sex witch is rare. Are you okay? You look a little overwhelmed.”

In Ben’s excitement over finding out Rey’s classification, he’d missed the way Rey’s face had paled at the revelation.

“No I’m not okay. It was only a couple of days ago that I learned that, not only are witches and magic real, but that I’m a witch too. Oh, and not just _any_ witch, now we find out that I’m a fucking _sex witch_!”  Ben snorted when she said that but quickly schooled his features once he realized she didn’t exactly see the humor in her word choice.  “What if I accidentally summon a giant tentacle monster or something just by having a wank!”

“Well, Cthulhu is only into cephalopods so you don’t have to worry about him.  Hermaeus Mora, on the other hand, will fuck you into Oblivion so you should probably be careful.”

Ben quickly thanked every deity he’d ever learned about that Rey wasn’t a pyromancer because the glare she shot his way would’ve burned him to ash in a heartbeat.

“You’re not funny gamer boy,” she dead panned. Ben’s eyes grew wide as he realized she’d caught his Skyrim joke wrapped in a Lovecraft joke. Was it really necessary for her to be more perfect? “I’m serious. How am I supposed to control this?”

Ben called the stones that had been forgotten on the ground back to his hand and quickly shoved them back into their bag. He placed his hands on her shoulders, surprised a little by how right it felt to touch her.

“I said I would help you and I will. We have a few books on yoni magic back at the shop. You can take those to start off. But now that we know how your magic is charged, we can practice more effectively. I would recommend having at least three orgasms the night before any lesson to make sure you’re at peak ability.”

Rey startled at the number he’d so flippantly tossed out.

“ _Three_ ! I just figured out how to have _one_ and you want me to have _three_? Are you insane?” Rey shoved at his shoulder but he didn’t budge.

“I said I would help you,” he repeated. The air shifted around them as Rey understood the exact meaning of his words. Had he just offered to get her off? “And that means I’ll help you however I can, however you’ll let me.” Yes, he was definitely offering to get her off. “For now, let’s head back to the shop and I’ll find those books for you. Everything after that will be up to you.”

Ben helped her up off the ground and started to lead her out of the park. The feel of his hand on her lower back practically screamed at Rey to take him up on his offer immediately, to let him rut her into the ground like a wild animal, to climb him like the trees he resembled. Was this what it meant to be a sex witch and know it? Was she doomed to be horny in his presence? In the back of her mind, she knew that was ridiculous. She’d been attracted to Ben from the start, even when she’d thought he was crazy. But something much lower, some deep part of her that had only recently been awakened, wanted him beyond attraction. Like her soul wanted to fuse with his.

None of this made any sense. The only light she could see was the hand at her back, guiding her. That’s when she knew that no matter what, Ben _would_ help her.

 

* * *

 

 

“Warm this up for me, won’t you love?” Phasma held her coffee cup out towards the ginger in the driver’s seat of the car. He sported a glare that could’ve done the trick with her coffee but it was necessary to distract him from the couple exiting the park, lest he do something rash.

Grudgingly, Hux held his hand out and touched the side of the lukewarm cup. The liquid inside quickly heated itself back to boiling but he wasn’t concerned. Phasma didn’t have any issue cooling things down.

“This is demeaning,” he scowled. His mirror merely arched her perfectly shaped brow at him. “Doesn’t it bother you that we’ve been relegated to babysitting duty? And all because fucking Kylo Ren had to go and find his match after he betrayed us. What’s so special about that little tart anyway?”

Phasma reached across and placed her hand against the quickly reddening cheek of her lover. So hot-headed all the time. She smiled as he leaned into her touch, craving the cool of her skin and the calm of her presence.

“You have to remember darling, Kylo Ren is the most powerful lunar witch in centuries. That ‘little tart’, as you say, _must_ be something special if she’s his match. And we’re merely keeping an eye on them for the Supreme Leader. It’s hardly babysitting.” Armitage didn’t seem particularly fond of that answer so Phasma tried another approach. “Think of it this way. If the Supreme Leader is unable to convince them to join the Collection, we’ll most likely be permitted to kill them anyway. And you can finally work out that little grudge of yours over Kylo leaving in the first place.”

As expected, the prospect of murder brought that beautiful smile she’d fallen in love with to his face.

“Such a way with words.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and all your comments and kudos thus far!


	4. Chapter 4: Magical Friends with Benefits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey get closer as he helps her charge her magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta and moodboard maker [drnucleus](https://drnucleus.tumblr.com)!
> 
> Enjoy!

**Chapter 4: Magical Friends with Benefits**

“You new age witches are all the same,” he spat at the dark haired woman crouching in the corner of her cell. “With your moral high ground and your inability to use your magic as it was meant to be used.” A bolt of light shot from his fingertips. The witch, Alexandra, attempted to shield herself from it but it had been too long since the monster had deigned to allow her any poultices or herbs to draw from. His torture had caused her to use what healing energy she had left on herself. 

“I’m a healer,” she ground out, “and I use my magic  _ exactly  _ as it’s meant to be used. Unlike you, thief.”

She could tell the moment her word choice landed in his mind because she was met with yet another bolt of lightning from his hands. 

His laugh rang in her ears as she spat blood out onto the floor. 

“You have the power over disease, Ms. Winger,” he countered, the edge in his voice revealing his faux cordiality for what it was. “Yet you choose to waste it on these pathetic mortals. I’ve offered you a place in  _ The Collection _ and you dare to turn your nose up at it!”

Alex barked out a humorless laugh, momentarily ignoring the taste of bile at the back of her throat. 

“You want me to kill innocents to aid in your thirst for power,” she corrected him. “When you tire of my abilities, you’d kill me just like all the rest. No, at least this way, I’ll die knowing that a monster like you could never use my magic to its full extent. That’s why you have to siphon so much in the first place, isn’t it? Keeping your soul alive after all this time must be so hard. You probably don’t even have a shred of your own magic left now. It’s all stolen and practically useless. You’ll never truly rule this world you deem unworthy. You’re nothing but the shell of a man trying in vain to stay on top of a food chain you were never meant to be a part of.”

“Enough!” 

His snarl echoed in the cell and made her flinch. Alex could feel a hand at her throat as she was suddenly hurled up against the cold metal wall.  _ This is it _ , she thought to herself. The magic was draining much quicker than she’d thought it would. Maybe torturing her had worn him out. The darkness started closing in until her world became like pitch. What was left of her magic fought to keep her body alive as long as it could before it was sucked away into the unfamiliar body of the warlock. Alexandra Winger’s body dropped to the ground with a sickening crunch of bones she would no longer need. With a rejuvenated smile on his mangled face, Snoke turned to leave the cell. He would send the lovers down to take care of the body later. 

 

* * *

 

 

Rey wanted to scream. She had never felt so frustrated, so angry, and so sad all at the same time. A tear trickled down her temple to disappear into her messy hair. The lube she’d purchased felt sticky and wrong, which was infuriating because the girls at the shop had assured her it was the most realistic brand on the market. It wasn’t helping, in any case. 

Angrily, she threw the Wand down on the bed and stomped over to her bathroom. As she cleaned herself with a warm washcloth, she thought about the plans she’d made with Ben for in the morning. He was supposed to come over to show her how to set her home up as a magical space where she could actually practice and use her magic safely. The text he’d sent after they’d made the plans tainted her from her phone’s darkened screen on her nightstand. 

**_Don’t forget! 3!_ **

Ha! As if it would be that easy!

The passages she’d skimmed over in some of the books Ben had lent her made it seem like orgasms should come fairly easy to a yoni practitioner. 

So why was it, now that an orgasm was actually vital to her being able to strengthen and control this power inside her rather than being a mere physical desire of her body, that it seemed so much farther from her grasp? It just wasn’t fair!

Washcloth thrown in her laundry hamper, Rey marched across the room with a fire in her stomach and grabbed her phone. For a moment, she considered just texting him but ultimately decided that he should have to listen to her instead of possibly sleeping through a text notification. 

He picked up on the second ring. 

“Rey, it’s the middle of the night. Are you okay?”

Rey tried to ignore the worry she heard in his voice. And gravelly tone that came from waking up in the middle of the night. Right now she wanted to be upset with him and him being worried was not conducive to that.

“No I’m not okay Mr. I-can-just-sit-in-the-fucking-moonlight-to-recharge-my-magic! And this is all your fault! You think it’s easy to have an orgasm? Well it’s not! Not for me at least. And you basically assigned me three of the bloody things like it’s no big deal and nothing is working because you went and put too much fucking pressure on me. What kind of sex witch can’t have a goddamn orgasm whenever they need to? This is all your fault and I may or may not hate you just a little bit right now!”

Rey took a deep breath at the end of her rant and collapsed onto her bed. 

“Okay, slow down for a second and let me catch up. I put too much pressure on you to have three orgasms and you’re upset. Is that right?” Rey nodded her head before remembering that he couldn’t see her. 

“Yes that’s right.” She heard movement on Ben’s end of the line, cloth rustling as though he’d just put a shirt on. 

“I told you I would help you Rey. This falls in line with that.” She wasn’t sure if it was the calm in his voice that set her off or her worry that he wasn’t taking her crisis as seriously as she felt he should. Either way, Rey growled into the receiver,

“You have my address.” Without examining the meaning behind her own words, Rey ended the call and threw her phone down on the bed. 

Twenty more minutes of fruitless and frustrated attempts later, there was a knock on her front door. 

He wasn’t exactly sure what he’d been expecting when Rey opened her front door. But immediately being greeted with hot pink toenails and an irresistible expanse of leg almost brought him to his knees right there on her little front porch. 

All of the dreams he’d had of her paled in comparison to the angry brunette standing before him in nothing but a T-shirt and a pair of plaid panties. Through the T-shirt, he could see the outlines of her nipples and he was reminded of the box of lepidolite stones back at the shop. 

Ben noticed the moment the haze of anger and frustration left her eyes, replaced almost instantly with panic. Her cheeks were flushed and she looked ready to bolt. The look she gave him made him worry that he’d fucked up, misreading her reminder that he had her address as invitation to come over. 

“You’re here,” she squeaked. Had she been biting her lips? They looked fuller than usual. The thought of her pulling that bottom lip of hers between her teeth made him itch to do the same. “If you’re here, that means that phone call was real. I  _ yelled _ at you, about  _ orgasms _ . Oh my god, what did I do?”

When she started pacing just a bit, Ben noticed the shoulder that was bared to him was dusted with a constellation of freckles. Immediately, he wanted to map them his tongue. He couldn’t remember ever having such a visceral physical attraction to anyone before.  _ Is it just because of her magic _ , a little voice in the back of his head questioned. But he shook that voice quiet. Despite what some “scholars” thought, there had never been any proof that yoni practitioners were descended from incubi and succubi. Rey’s allure was entirely her own. In that moment, he realized the he’d be just as attracted to her without magic as he is with it. 

She ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to smooth out the wavy mass it’d turned itself into. It was the first time he’d seen her with it not in those three buns she seemed to favor so it was hard to focus on the issue at hand when he just wanted to fucking touch her. 

Everywhere. 

Anywhere. 

Wherever she would allow him to. 

“We don’t have to anything you don’t want to do,” he broached softy. She still looked skittish as fuck.

“I don’t even know what I want Ben. I just know that you said I had to have at least three orgasms and I can’t even get close to one. And now you’re here and you said you’d help but how are you supposed to help? Does being a sex witch mean I should start sleeping around? Because I’ve never had much success in that area before. Oh god, are we going to sleep together? Is that what you meant? Ben, I can’t have sex with you. It’s stupid considering you’re the literal man of my dreams and I’ve definitely been having fantasies about you since the day I met you but sex always fucks things up and the last thing I want to do is fuck up our relationship because I actually like you and  _ holy fuck _ I’ve said all of that out loud! Fuck!”

Ben watched as Rey clasped her hands over her mouth, as though that would prevent her from rambling, and confessing, further. He couldn’t help focusing, for just a moment, on the fact that she’d said she liked him. Just a simple phrase at the end of a run-on sentence held so much weight in his mind.

A myriad of emotions seemed to cross over the portion of her face not covered by her hands. Ben had never experienced someone freaking out because they weren’t going to have sex. Yet another addition to the list of how Rey wasn’t like anyone he’d met before.

Tentatively, he reached out to touch her shoulder. The instant his fingers brushed her skin, it felt like an electric hold leaped from her body to his. Hardwood floors told him it was highly unlikely the shock was due to static. Were her powers growing already? She’d need to learn to control them soon. For both their sakes.

He wanted to tell her that it would be okay. That he would help her in whatever capacity she deemed acceptable. That he would be there for her no matter what.

But the jolt from her skin must have short-circuited his brain because what came out was,

“You like me?”

From her perch on the edge of her couch where she’d plopped down to breathe, she huffed.

“That’s not the point Ben. Forget I said that part.”

“Like  _ that’s _ gonna happen,” he mumbled under his breath. The look Rey gave him in return made it clear that his mumbling had been heard loud and clear.

“I’m serious,” she breathed slowly. “I don’t know if it’s because of the dreams we shared or some other magic thing I don’t quite understand yet but I feel like I’ve known you forever instead of just a few weeks. I need time to sort that out and sex would only complicate things.”

Her look of resignation reminded him of the night that had started them down this path. She’d practically accepted that she wouldn’t orgasm until he’d managed to help her through it via the dreaming link they seemed to share. So why couldn’t they just do that again?

If she needed time, he could give her that. But she needed orgasms too and he could give her those as well.

“You know, sex isn’t the only way to get you off.”

Rey appeared to mull it over in her head so Ben took the opportunity to admire the way her nose scrunched up when she thought. It was pretty adorable.

“Phone sex!”

Her sudden outburst caught him off guard.

“What?”

“We could do phone sex. You could talk me through it like you did in my dreams. Why are you laughing?”

The moment he’d realized that she had indeed suggested phone sex, he hadn’t been able to hold back his laughter.

“You literally just hung up on me thirty minutes ago so I could be here in person.” Rey didn’t say anything despite the very obvious flaw in her plan. He could tell she had little intention in changing her plan so he begrudgingly pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Okay then, do you want me to stay in here?”

The look of elation she gave him just for going along with her plan made her look so incredibly beautiful. The worry on her features melted into a smile he wanted to be the cause of for the rest of his life.

_ Easy Ben, that’s not exactly giving her time. _

“Thank you Ben.”

Her hair bounced a bit as she turned to go back to what he assumed was her bedroom. He waited a few minutes before sitting down on the couch and bringing her name up on his phone. Only when he saw her face on the screen did he realize how fucked he was.

How was he supposed to have phone sex with Rey without making a mess of himself and his jeans?

Gritting his teeth, Ben pressed the connect button to call Rey from twenty feet away. He could hear her phone ring down the hall.

“Hi,” she answered. Her voice was breathless, not at all like the angry yelling he’d awakened to earlier. Was it weird that he liked the sound of both?

“Hi.” Ben waited a minute but when she didn’t seem to have a response, he sucked in a grounding breath. “So, um, fair warning, I’ve never done the phone sex thing before.” Her giggle echoed from down the hall and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Me neither,” came her soft reply.

“Are you still wearing your panties?” He heard the small gasp at his question followed by some rustling.

“Not now.” The mental image of those plaid underwear thrown in the floor had him gripping himself through his jeans.

“Fuck,” he groaned out loud. Suddenly, she giggled again. “What?” His question was met with more laughter to the point where he could clearly hear her down the hallway.

“I’m sorry,” Rey laughed again, “it’s just that I can hear you talking in the living room  _ and _ through the phone so there’s this weird echo thing going on and I thought it was funny.” Ben chuckled to himself. Who else would laugh while attempting phone sex? “I ruined the mood, didn’t I?”

According to his dick, the mood was definitely not ruined. But he wasn’t about to tell Rey that. This entire thing was about her pleasure, not hit.

“You couldn’t ruin the mood if you tried,” he assured her. Her giggles suddenly died away with a breathy gasp that did nothing for his self control.

“Maybe you should just come in here,” she finally said after a moment. Ben felt his cock twitch in excitement as he remembered that he’d told her to remove her panties.

“Are you sure?” He had to ask, even if his body hated him for it.

“Just,” she paused and he thought she was going to tell him to just stay in the living room and lower his voice so the echo didn’t ruin anything. But then she continued. “Just, you could sit on the edge of the bed or something.”

He’d never ran so fast in his life.

She was beneath the blankets when he entered her bedroom. He could hear a distinct buzzing sound that could only mean one thing.

_ Fuck. _

Rey bit down on her lip as their eyes met and the whimper she released almost brought him to his knees. 

“Are you wet Rey?” His voice was barely above a whisper as he moved across the room to sit on the edge of her bed.

“Yes,” she moaned, a desperate sound that shot straight to his groin. He remembered from their dreams that she seemed to respond to dirty talk. Maybe that would still be the case in person.

“I can hear your vibrator,” he groaned, shifting himself on the bed so he could see her. “Tell me what kind of toy you like fucking yourself with.” Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, a soft moan falling from her lips. Suddenly, he wanted nothing more in the world than to kiss that mouth, to drink her moans directly from the source.

“Hitachi Magic Wand,” she rushed out as though it was all one word. He smiled to himself because of course that’s what she would have.

“The only wand suitable for a sex witch,” he whispered. Rey released a growl that made him reach down to readjust himself. “So that’s working on that pretty little clit. Your fingers should be buried deep in your pussy. How many fingers Rey?”

“Two,” she hissed suddenly, expelling all the air in her lungs on the one word. “It’s not enough, Ben.” His name was practically a sob in her throat. Ben could feel her magic pulsing, like it was gearing up for something big but it just didn’t know what. 

“Add another then, fuck yourself on those three fingers until you can’t take anymore and then you keep fucking going, Rey.” He could hear the wet sounds her ministrations made beneath the blankets. The sounds were doing his head in. Her movements sped up until suddenly he felt a wave of frustration that hit him like a freight train.

How did she do that?

“This isn’t fucking working,” Rey then yelled out, disappointment and defeat dripping from each word. Ben looked up to see a tear stream down her face and he knew that he needed to do something to fix this. She stilled under the covers and wouldn’t meet his eyes, as if she was afraid he would be disappointed in her as well.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

“Rey,” he whispered. It took a moment but she finally looked at him again. “Do you trust me?”

Never in his life had one simple word felt like such an unbelievable gift.

“Yes.”

Ben stood up slowly and waved his hand. The comforter and sheet hiding her from his view rolled back until she was bare before him. Her shirt was still hanging off one shoulder but, true to her word, the panties were nowhere to be seen. Rey was holding the Wand limply in her hand between her legs while the fingers of her other hand still glistened from using them on herself. Her nipples hardened against the fabric of her shirt and he imagined sucking one into his mouth. Instead, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and raised her shining fingers up to his lips. The gasp she released as he sucked her fingers into his mouth would keep him up for nights to come as would the taste of her arousal on her skin. With his free hand, he took the Wand from her and switched it off. She’d barely registered the loss of vibration before his index finger was sinking into her. 

His name was like a prayer on her lips, a prayer he desired to kiss in acceptance. Considering how she’d originally reacted at the beginning of the night, Ben felt that kissing her might not be the best idea, despite how much he really wanted to. He satiated the need by flattening himself beside her on the bed and making good on his earlier desire to trace the freckles on her shoulder with his tongue as he curled his finger inside her. His thumb played a soft cadence against her clit that made her hum with approval. As her legs started thrashing, Ben threw his leg over the one closest to him to keep her still. The little movements she made against him rubbed him through his jeans, causing him to groan at the friction. He could feel her walls beginning to flutter around his finger so he quickly added another. The punishing pace he set had her writhing against his body, like she couldn’t get close enough.

“Ben Ben Ben Ben  _ Ben, fuck right there, don’t stop! _ ” Her voice rang out and suddenly, as her body pushed and pulled at his fingers, the lights in the room began to flicker. Electricity buzzed as she screamed through her release, screaming  _ his name _ the whole time. Ben watched in awe as her power made itself known. He could feel it reaching out to him, like it could claim him if it knew how to do so. For a moment, he considered how something like that could even happen, but for now it was unfathomable. However, with Rey, it seemed like anything was possible.

When she went limp beside him, he kissed his way from her shoulder to the spot behind her ear. She hummed softly as he sucked her earlobe between his teeth, biting down just hard enough to make sure he had her attention.

“That was number one,” he whispered.

Before she fully registered his words, Ben pressed the pad of his thumb against the area just beside her clit, careful of overstimulation. He sucked at her neck like a man starved as she whimpered beneath his attentions. Movement from the corner of his eye made him look up to see her wrenching the wide collar of her shirt down. Suddenly, like a gift from the gods, Rey had her breast in her hand, plucking at her nipple in a pattern reminiscent of the one he was using around her clit. Without thinking, he leaned across her and made his previous wish come true by sucking the bud into his mouth. The feeling of her fingers, carding through his hair and holding him tighter to her chest was a pleasant surprise. The move seemed to embolden her because the next thing he knew, her other hand was directing his circling thumb so that it was covering her clit completely. He took her cue and pressed down firmly at the same time he pinched her nipple between his teeth.

“Oh god, Ben! Harder, please harder,” Rey sobbed as she pressed her pelvis up against his hand. Ben released her nipple with a lewd  _ pop _ as he roughly slammed his fingers up into her again. She keened as her pussy sucked him even deeper. If she felt like a perfect glove around his fingers. How was he supposed to survive if they ever had sex? It definitely wasn’t the worst way to go, though. “Ben I’m coming, fuck Ben. Two, I’m coming!”

Her cries became muffled as he realized she’d turned her head to bite into her pillow. The image was just yet another that would be burned into his mind until the end one day death saw fit to take him.

Rey’s thighs were twitching as he sat up on his knees. He knew that the best chance for number three would be in the aftershocks of number two. He considered going down on her, knowing that one full taste of her and he would be addicted for life. But, like kissing, he didn’t want to do something that he wasn’t positive she would welcome. So instead, Ben quickly grabbed the Wand he’d discarded before and turned it to its highest setting. Rey screamed out his name when it touched her clit. He told himself that he would have time to admire the perfect creation in front of him later and pressed two of his fingers once more past her lips. He’d barely touched that soft spot deep inside her when her entire body tensed up suddenly. That was all the warning he got before a small gush of liquid puddled against his palm. She was completely silent, eyes screwed shut as she rode through the sensations flooding her body. Ben’s attention was split between watching the glow of her skin as her magic flowed freely at a full charge and the lights in the room shining so brightly he thought the bulbs would blow out completely.

Suddenly, Rey went completely boneless on the bed and the lights returned to their low setting. Ben had never felt so much awe in his twenty-nine years of life than he did at that moment.

“Three,” she whispered softly and he felt his heart melt in his chest. He watched as she stretched languidly on the bed, not appearing to care in the slightest that her one breast was still outside the confines of her shirt or that she was still naked from the waist down. He’d never seen her so relaxed, or felt her magic so strongly. Again, he got the distinct feeling that it was reaching for him. Odd.

All at once, he became painfully aware of the situation in his jeans. He’d need to take care of that.

“Okay,” he spoke softly as he moved on the bed so he could stand up, making a mental note of how far away her bathroom was across the room, “I’m gonna go take—”

Rey’s eyes opened wide once again and she grabbed at his hand before he could move off the bed or finish his sentence. He looked down and saw that, though her eyes were wide, they were quite glazed over still. Was she even really seeing him?

“Please don’t go,” she whispered. The melted puddle that was his heart somehow managed to melt further as he realized that she thought he was getting up to leave. The fact that she didn’t want him to leave pulled at him like gravity.

“I was just gonna-,” but she started shaking her head, cutting off his explanation once more.

“Stay, please stay, Ben.”

He said a silent apology to his angry dick and blue balls because there was no way in any iteration of hell that he could say no to her. With a nod, he laid back down beside her and couldn’t help but smile when she looked up at him with gratitude flashing in her eyes. Then, she leaned in closer, her lips just slightly parted, and he mentally jumped for joy that he was going to get to kiss her after all. And then, as if she’d fallen asleep halfway between their faces and her aim had shifted too high, he felt her lips press softly to the tip of his nose before a tiny snore escaped. He smiled to himself as she burrowed into his chest. Using his power to bring the covers over their bodies, Ben wrapped his arms around her and drifted off to sleep with her.

He wondered if they would still share dreams when they were together.

 

* * *

 

Rey blinked against the soft light of morning drifting through her window. Her body felt wrung out and energized at the same time. She could feel soft vibrations all around her, like tiny little sparks in the air touching her skin. This must be what it felt like to be at full charge. Did she glow like Ben did?

_ Oh god Ben! _

Memories flooded back of the night before. Yelling at Ben. Demanding that he come over. Admitting to him that she liked him. Failed phone sex. His filthy mouth was just like in their dreams. His fingers inside her. Three orgasms. Begging him to stay. Had she really kissed his  _ nose _ ? He had stayed. Falling asleep in his arms.

Rey rubbed a hand over her face with a groan and sat up in her bed, eyes landing on the empty spot beside her. Where Ben had lain the night before, there was a note.

**_Rey,_ **

**_If I don’t make it back before you wake up, I’ll be back soon. I just need to drop by my house to change clothes and pick up some supplies. I wanted to show you how to get your house set up for magical use today. I don’t want to steal your keys just to let myself back in so I’m gonna put a locking sigil on the front door. That way you can still get out if you need to but nobody else can get in. You’ll be safe that way and I won’t have to worry that I left you in an unlocked house._ **

**_Ben_ **

With careful movements, Rey folded the note and stuck it in the drawer in her nightstand. Was it odd to feel giddy that he’d used magic to keep her safe?

After cleaning herself up in the bathroom, Rey stared at herself in the mirror. Physically, she couldn’t remember ever feeling better. It felt like she could run a marathon and still have energy to pull a full shift at the garage and then do some flying if she felt like it. Her lips looked fuller, her eyes hooded, her movements more lithe. She felt like she could seduce a monk. Ben gave her that feeling.

Ben.

Who’d given her three of the most intense and incredible orgasms of her entire life.

Who’d received nothing in return.

Who was probably regretting the offer to help her.

How was she supposed to face him after this?

Rey didn’t know how long he’d been gone when she woke up so she figured she didn’t have very long before he returned. She ran out of the bathroom and pulled a clean set of undergarments from her closet. The t-shirt and jeans she chose were well worn but comfortable and clean so she hurriedly dressed herself and walked back into her living room to wait until Ben returned.

No sooner had she sat down on the couch than her mind immediately began running through reasons why she’d completely ruined her relationship with Ben. The man had rushed to her side after being yelled at to help her have not one, not two, but  _ three _ mind melting orgasms and she didn’t even so much as offer to get him off in return. No wonder he’d wanted to leave afterwards. He probably needed to get away from her and her crazy sex witchery but what had she done? Guilted him into staying with her! How was she going to look him in the eye after this?

Before her spiral could continue its descent, the front door started to glow softly. She gasped softly before watching it open to reveal Ben, standing there with his messenger bag on his shoulder. His hands were full, a drink carrier in one and a paper bag in the other. She rushed to the door to help him with the items but he just lightly shook his head.

“Don’t worry, I got it.” Before Rey could take anything from him, Ben motioned with his head and suddenly, the drink carrier and bag were floating themselves over to her coffee table. She wasn’t sure she would ever not be amazed at his ability to do that. Ben hefted his bag onto the couch and gestured for her to sit down. “I saw you had green tea on the kitchen counter so I figured that was a safe bet. And I hope you like blueberry muffins because they were out of everything else.”

Her breath hitched slightly as she took the proffered items.

“You got me breakfast,” she whispered. He seemed confused by her statement so she continued. “Why did you get me breakfast after what I did last night?”

If he’d seemed confused before, Ben didn’t have a clue what was happening when she asked her question.

“What are you talking about? You didn’t do anything.” He could feel Rey’s magic fluctuating as her eyes darted around the room, looking at anything and everything but him. He wanted to touch her, to be able to bring her some level of comfort and steer her away from whatever freak out she was indulging in her mind. Before he could reach out and place his hand on her, she sat the tea and muffin he’d given her back on the coffee table and stood up.

“Exactly! I didn’t do  _ anything _ and that’s the problem. Ben, you made me come three times and I didn’t even offer to get you off! You were incredible and I just fell asleep. How are you even sitting there so calm right now? Why aren’t you mad?” At the suggestion that he should be angry with her after one of the most amazing nights of his life, Ben stood up. This time, he didn’t hesitate to put his hands on Rey’s shoulders to stop her from pacing.

“Rey, I need you to listen to me, okay?” He waited until she nodded her head before he continued. “As a sex witch, you need to orgasm regularly in order to keep your magic charged. I offered to help you with that and I don’t regret it in the slightest. You allowed me to be a part of that and I could never be upset with you because of that.” He was, however, going to be upset with himself for what he planned to suggest next. “If it helps, just think of me as your magical friend with benefits. No strings, just orgasms.”

Rey felt his thumbs rubbing calming circles into her shoulders, the same place his mouth had been last night, and nodded. He didn’t hate her then. That was good.

“Okay, but if we’re going to be magical friends with benefits, you should benefit too. If I get off, you get off too.” She crossed her arms and tried to convey an image of being in charge. It wasn’t just guilt that demanded she make him come in kind. She’d felt the thickness of him on her thigh as he’d held her down on the bed. She wanted to feel him without the barriers of the clothing, the same way he’d felt her. It was a selfish kind of selflessness that made her want to reciprocate.

Ben did that thing where he bit the inside of his lip when he was thinking. She wanted to be the one to bite his lip.

“If I remember correctly, I can just sit in the fucking moonlight to recharge my magic.” Rey blushed as he parroted her words back at her. The fact that she could still blush after he’d licked her juices off her fingers  _ and _ his was incredible. “But seriously, your magic needs you to orgasm, Rey. Mine doesn’t.”

Rey shook her head and stepped a little closer. As she stared into his eyes, she felt a pull from inside that seemed to demand she get even closer.

“I want to make you come when I come.” 

At her words, Ben appeared to fold in on himself. His forehead rested against hers as his hands slid from her shoulders to her neck. With his thumbs rubbing more of those circles against her temples and his breathing becoming more labored, Rey mused that his lips were so close. She could just lean in a bit closer.

“You’re killing me,” he whispered, almost too soft for her to hear but she caught it all the same. With another calming breath, Ben raised himself from her forehead and smiled softly. “Okay, we’ll do it your way.” 

Rey refrained from letting out a victorious whoop when he agreed to her terms.

“Thank you, Ben,” she smiled up at him. His eyes softened on her before she saw recognition flash in them. She watched as he began to rummage around in his bag before producing a small velvet pouch.

“I found this at the shop and I thought you might like it.” Rey loosened the drawstrings keeping the pouch closed and poured the contents into her hand.

A black cord unfurled in her palm to reveal a charm threaded through it. She recognized the symbol from the books Ben had let her borrow. It was a marquise shape with a circle around a triangle in the center, more vague than some of the O’Keefe-esque symbols she’d seen but beautiful in its simplicity. It was the symbol of the yoni, the symbol of her magic.

“Ben,” she started but he held his hand up. He wasn’t silencing her, she realized, but holding his hand out so she could see the ring on his thumb. She tried to ignore that it was the same thumb he’d used to make her clit sing the night before. The ring was silver and had three moon phases shaped into the metal.

“Every witch should have a symbol of their classification to keep them grounded in their magic. If you don’t like it, we can find you another one. But I, well, when I saw this one, I thought of you.”

At his words, Rey couldn’t have denied the gift even if she wanted to.

“Thank you Ben.” The cord was long enough that she could wrap part of it close around her neck as a choker while the part with the charm hung down just below the hollow of her throat. “How does it look?”

Ben fingered the charm as it sat just above her breasts making her breath speed up before he let it go.

“Perfect.” He cleared his throat and backed up a few paces before turning to rummage in his bag again. When he stood up straight again, he had a bundle of herbs in one hand—sage by the smell of it—and a long campfire type of match in the other. He transferred both items to her hand before pulling a large shell out and giving that to her as well. “After we finish eating, I’m gonna show you how to purify your home. Once that’s done, we can get to work on where you want your altar. That’s gonna need a specific cleansing ritual.”

Rey sat the things he’d given her down on the coffee table and listened as Ben explained how they would go about using the sage, a smudge stick she learned, to purify her home. He taught her the chant that she should say as she went through each room of her house, carefully directing the smoke into each corner, doorway, and window. They decided that it made sense for her altar to be in her bedroom since that was where she was most likely to have any orgasms. She had an extra nightstand that she didn’t use so they moved it over to the corner of her room. Ben walked her through the ritual she would need to perform once she got the supplies for her altar gathered. He promised he would be there if she wanted him to help.

Rey’s stomach growled as she unrolled her yoga mat in front of the altar. She heard Ben chuckle behind her before he handed her a throw pillow from her bed. He figured a comfortable witch is a happy witch and she could sit on the pillow while meditating.

“You wanna go grab some food?”

They’d barely sat down in the little corner booth in a little hole-in-the-wall deli with their food before Rey started asking the questions that had been burning in her mind since meeting Ben. 

“How long have you known you were a witch? Did it just pop out of nowhere like mine or did you grow up knowing?”

Ben wiped his mouth with a napkin to hide his smile. He’d been wondering how long it would take her to start asking questions. 

“Well, my mother is a High Priestess so I grew up around magic. Depending on your classification, most witches come into their magic around ten. Apparently I did it when I was two. My mom always says she walked into my room to wake me up and every toy in my room was circling around my head like a giant mobile.” Rey laughed as she remembered the day she’d met Ben. 

“You seem to have a penchant for making things float around people’s heads.” He chuckled at the reminder before taking a bite out of his sandwich. “So you had like, eight years of practice with your powers before most people even get them. Why did it take me so long? I definitely wasn’t floating around when I was ten.”

“Yoni is different. Just like how it requires you to orgasm in order to recharge, it would’ve required you to orgasm to unlock as well. The night you floated was your first one, right?” Rey nodded, blushing at the memory. “That’s why. If you’d had your first climax as a teenager like a good number of people, it would’ve happened then. But since you didn’t, it stayed dormant inside of you, waiting on you to be ready.”

While it felt like she was at a disadvantage in terms of experience, Rey couldn’t help but feel grateful at the fact that the timing had allowed her to meet Ben in the first place. 

“You said your mother is a High Priestess. Does that mean your father is a High Priest?”

It was like a cloud has passed over Ben’s features. One moment, his eyes were the brown and green mix of autumn leaves she wanted to dive into headfirst and the next, they were almost black in their intensity. The muscle under his left eye twitched suddenly and Rey became aware she’d overstepped some boundary. 

“I’m sorry,” she backtracked, “I don’t mean to pry.” Perhaps that was something you weren’t supposed to talk about. Once more, Rey was reminded of just how many aspects of Ben’s world she was still in the dark about. 

“No it’s fine,” the words fought him the entire way out of his mouth. But he wanted to know Rey, to continue whatever this thing was between them that transcended lust and physical attraction. And if that was to happen, she deserved to know the truth. “Simple answer is no, my father isn’t a High Priest. He died a few years ago.” He swallowed thickly, half-eaten sandwich turning to ash in his stomach. This was where Rey would decided she was better off without him. “I killed him.”

Rey sat back, thrown by his confession. The man sitting in front of her, who had helped her find out what kind of witch she was, who had helped her cleanse her home of negative energies, who had given her three mind-melting orgasms, that man was no killer. There had to be more to the story. 

“What do you mean you killed your father?” She watched as Ben ran a hand through his hair with a pained expression, as though the thought process was causing him anguish.

“My dad wasn’t a witch. I think he only halfway believed in magic sometimes. It was like, if he wasn’t around my mother while she was doing spellwork or something obviously magical, he’d call it a hokey religion. We didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. I didn’t understand how he could be so dismissive of something that was such a huge part of mine and my mother’s lives. He didn’t understand why I didn’t want to do something more with my life besides learning as much about magic as I could. For the longest time, I think the only thing that kept me from outright hating him was knowing how much he loved my mom. Despite everything else, their love for each other was something I could never question.”

Ben’s voice broke on the last word. Rey could feel his anxiety rolling in waves around him and she wanted nothing more than to comfort him. That was odd, right? Wanting to comfort someone as they confessed to patricide? But she was tired of questioning her feelings where Ben was concerned. So, with Ben staring at his plate, she reached across the table and placed her hand on top of his. She felt stronger for the contact and hoped Ben could feel that same strength.

His gaze shifted to her hand, dwarfed by his own but there nonetheless, and his breath hitched. 

“Ben,” she prompted him to continue the story. 

“Yeah, sorry, just haven’t talked about this shit in a long time. So, I wanted to learn more about magic, not just the lunar stuff that my mom could teach me but everything. I got into some dark stuff, curses, necromancy, demon invocation, shit like that. This warlock found me, convinced me that he could teach me everything I wanted to know about magic if I joined his circle. He was powerful, more powerful than I’d ever seen before. I mean, I was only a teenager at the time but I’d been around powerful magic my entire life and this guy Snoke was something else. It wasn’t until I was in too deep that I found out the reason he was so powerful was because he was stealing other witches’ magic and killing them. I should’ve left then but I didn’t. It was like there was two pieces of my mind at odds with each other. One side was telling me to stop blocking my family from communicating with me, leave Snoke’s circle, and just go back home. And then the other side was telling me that they would never want me back if they knew the things I’d done, the things I’d let happen. Eventually, my dad came and tried to talk some sense into me but we got into an argument. I just remember being so angry with him for never trying to understand magic, or me for that matter. I remember waving my hand to get him to back away but I must’ve thrown something because the next thing I knew, he was on the ground.”

Tears were falling freely down Ben’s face and all Rey could think was how she wanted to take his pain away. 

“You don’t have to keep going Ben,” she whispered, scared to burst the bubble surrounding them. 

“No, I do. You deserve to know what you’re getting involved with.” She knew the ‘what’ he spoke of was himself. It sounded wrong to her ears, that he seemed to consider himself less than human. “The doctors said it was an aneurysm that burst, that nothing could’ve been done, but I know it was my fault. If I hadn’t thrown whatever I threw, if we hadn’t been arguing, if I’d never gotten involved with Snoke’s fucking cult, he wouldn’t have been there to begin with. Aneurysm or not, he died because of me. At least if he’d died at home, my mom and dad could’ve had a little more time together. But no, he came after his idiot son and got killed for his trouble.”

Rey tightened her hold on his hand, surprised when he returned the gesture. 

“You aren’t an evil person Ben,” she spoke softly. Ben made a snorting sound in response but Rey continued. “I’m serious. Maybe you did some fucked up things, made bad decisions, but you? You’re a good man. I know that, I  _ feel _ that in my soul. What’s important is that you came back from the edge and, if Rose is any indication, you have a family that loves you. That’s what you should focus on now. That’s how you honor your father’s memory, by staying true to the family he tried to bring you back to.” Ben seemed to absorb her words and, after a moment, accept them. 

“Thank you Rey,” his voice just above a whisper and rough with emotion. Rey searched her mind for a topic that could bring some degree of levity to their conversation. 

“Well, fair’s fair. I see your dark and sordid past and raise you mine. I was an orphan raised in a junkyard.” If the snort into his drink was anything to go by, Ben certainly hadn’t expected her to say that. 

“You what?” She nodded her head to confirm what he’d heard. 

“Yep, I’m not even actually English. My parents left me at a police station when I was about four. My first foster mother was this older English woman named Satine but everyone called her The Duchess. She homeschooled all the kids she fostered and since my parents never bothered to teach me how to talk before abandoning me, I learned from her. She’s the reason I sound like this. I was only with her for about six months before she died but she was my favorite. I made a promise to myself that I would never lose the accent as a way to remember her. She was my favorite.” Rey smiled softly. It’d been such a long time since she’d thought of The Duchess.

“How did you end up in a junkyard?” Ben’s question brought her out of her memories and back to the deli. 

“Well I was tossed around a lot after that. Some of the homes weren’t horrible. I never seemed to stay in those for very long. Eventually, I wound up at this junkyard owned by a guy named Unkar Plutt. He was the worst. He made us salvage from the yard for our supper and if he didn’t like what we brought him, we went hungry. I ended up learning that the good parts were under the hoods so I figured out how to take them apart and put them back together. Plutt figured out I’d taught myself some rudimentary mechanics so he put me to work in his shop. That’s how I met Finn. He was delivering some parts and saw how Plutt treated me so he started coming by more often. We became friends almost immediately. He helped me leave Plutt’s once I turned eighteen and got me into the same vocational program he was in so I could learn all the automotive stuff I hadn’t managed to teach myself at the yard. Then we both got hired at Poe’s garage and I’ve never looked back.”

Thinking of the boys reminded her of their reactions when she’d told them about her being a witch. Ben noticed the way her face fell. 

“Something made you sad just now. Your story had a happy ending so it’s not that.” Under her palm, Ben turned his own hand over so that he could fully grasp hers. The feeling was electric all over again. “Where did you go just now?”

Rey stared down at their hands and felt like she could start crying at any moment. The pair of them were a mess, dredging up history together and wading through the past. But at least they were together. 

“Poe and Finn are my family. They’ve never been anything but supportive of me. But when I told them that I’d found out I was a witch, they laughed at me like I was a crazy person. It made me angry at the time but now it just makes me sad to think about. I didn’t realize how much their approval meant until I didn’t have it.”

Ben felt a flare of anger in his gut at Rey’s friends but kept it to himself. She obviously loved them and cared about their opinions so he didn’t want to say anything bad about two people he’d never met. Instead, he focused on comforting Rey. 

“Magic is just science we don’t understand. A lot of people don’t get that. I’m sure they’ll come around for you. They’d be insane not to. Give them time. And in the meantime, I’ll be here.”

And he would be. Rey could feel the truth in his words, in his touch. The feeling was heady. 

Both emotionally exhausted from the time they’d spent talking over their lunch, Ben walked Rey home from the deli. Standing on her front porch, words suddenly escaped them. It felt like they didn’t even need the words anymore. Ben could still feel Rey’s magic calling to him, pulling him in. His gaze shifted between her eyes and her lips but he noticed her making the same trip across his face. The moment he decided to just go for it and kiss her, Rey reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. Without even thinking, he leaned into her touch. It wasn’t until she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his other cheek that he realized what was happening. 

“Thank you for everything Ben.” Her voice was soft, like she was afraid of breaking a spell by volume alone. Ben didn’t know what to say. It seemed her kiss had short-circuited his brain. “Goodnight.”

The front door closed gently behind her as she went into her house, both witches unsure of what would come next but positive they would have each other to get through it. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and your comments and kudos thus far! Come find me on tumblr!


	5. Technopath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey begins to test her powers

[ ](http://tinypic.com?ref=i2m2h0)

 

 

 

**Chapter 5**

The soft light of early morning filtered through the curtains of Rey’s bedroom windows, rousing Ben from a deep sleep. Immediately, he turned his head to shield his eyes and burrow deeper into the curves of Rey’s body. The moment he did, the feel of skin on skin brought him fully into the waking world. 

In the two weeks that had passed since they’d started this, whatever it was between them, Ben had spent more nights in Rey’s bed than in his own. But he’d never woken up to the feel of Rey’s skin on his. She’d always managed to keep some article of clothing on both of them, shirts mostly. It was a boundary Ben both respected and quietly hoped he could earn the trust required to surpass. 

The night before had blown his mind. Rey had pounced on him before he’d even fully made it inside her house. Thinking back, he was pretty sure his clothing had been left in a breadcrumb trail from her front door to her bedroom. He could remember noticing that her altar candles had been lit when they entered her room, the steady drumbeat of her magic pulsed throughout the space. He could also remember, despite her texts to the contrary, feeling that her magic wasn’t nearly as depleted as she’d claimed. The thought that she’d asked him over because she just wanted him was a heady sensation. He knew she wanted him. She’d said as much and shown him even more but, she remained resolute in her no-sex policy. 

Knowing that fact had caused his confusion to skyrocket when Rey had planted herself across his thighs. She’d straddled him before his back had even hit the mattress, his dick nestled torturously along her folds as she rocked against him. He thought, hoped really, that she’d reconsidered and decided that she wanted more. He could remember the look in her eyes, the hunger there, like she could eat him alive and make him beg for her to keep going. 

And then, she swirled her tongue around his nipple and his world closed around him until it was just the two of them in the entire universe. His throat had closed up when she slid down his body, every inch of her glorious skin igniting him on fire as she moved. When had she removed her own clothing? How had he missed  _ that _ ? When her lips had closed around the head of his dick, he could almost forget that he had yet to feel those same lips on his own. 

Almost.

Ben rose up on his elbow slowly so as not to wake the woman whose scent had permeated his very being. Rey rolled over onto her back and stretched as he did so, giving him an ample view of the small bruises he’d sucked into her breasts the night before. She had a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth and Ben caught himself hoping that he was the cause of that smile. Her magic pulsated even in her sleep, tendrils licked at his own like a curious creature discovering a new thing for the first time. While she’d managed to learn how to control her power in the past few weeks to the point where spellwork and sigils were like second nature to her now, Ben couldn’t shake the feeling that, at times, her magic seemed to have a mind of its own. He felt it reaching for him when they practiced, when he taught her something new and had her copy him. It was like her magic dipped into his for guidance. He’d never experienced anything like it. 

Staring down at her sleeping form, he couldn’t believe his fortune. Here was a woman of untold power to rival his own who had gone through her own life of darkness and emerged on the other side shining like the moon at Mabon. She made his very bones feel weak and strong at the same time. It was like the core of his being didn’t even know how to react to her so it did everything at once. Leave it to him to have the perfect person stumble into his life so he could fuck it up by suggesting they become fuck buddies. 

Ben could rationalize the decision in his mind. Rey needed to orgasm regularly in order to have a steady supply of magic that would allow her to properly hone her skills. Ben had offered to help. He hadn’t taken into account how freaked out Rey would be after the first time so he’d thought the suggestion would ease the pressure. He’d nearly jumped for joy right there in her living room when she’d made her ultimatum about sharing in pleasure. The fact that she’d already confessed to liking him before giving that ultimatum made him think that these recharging nights could easily become more. 

But then, she’d made fairly clear her intention to keep things between them strictly as platonic as fuck buddies who didn’t actually fuck could be. It didn’t make any sense. Couldn’t she feel the way her magic called to him? The way it tried to wrap him in its warmth like a blanket whenever they were near each other? It wouldn’t do that if they were meant to be apart. He just had to wait for her to realize it too. 

And in the meantime, waking up next to her would have to suffice.

He watched her eyes flutter softly and knew from experience that she would be waking soon. Perhaps he could hurry that along. Ben flattened his tongue against her breast, smiling to himself as her nipple puckered. As he sucked the bud into his mouth, he let his hand rove across her chest. Rey moaned softly beneath him, the sound going straight to his dick. He released her nipple from his mouth with a  _ pop _ and gently blew air across it. As it puckered further, Rey shifted and he suddenly found himself leaning into her touch as she carded her fingers through his hair. He looked up to see a pair of sleepy hazel eyes staring down at him.

“Good morning,” he grinned up at her before moving to pull her other nipple between his lips and teeth. Whatever she’d planned to say in return morphed into an unintelligible moan as he bit down gently in the way he knew she liked. He sucked at the underside of her breasts, a favorite of his because the sensitivity of the skin there never failed to elicit a response from Rey.

“Fuck,” the expletive was a hiss through her teeth but delicious all the same. Ben began a stilted descent down her torso, stopping every inch or so to lave at her skin. As he moved over her, Rey let her legs fall open to accommodate his frame. “Ben, are you really about to—” Her question was interrupted by her sudden intake of breath as he bit down the roughly on her hip bone.

“Make a breakfast feast out of this perfect pussy? Yes, I am.” A flush bloomed across her face and chest at his words while the pussy in question flooded with moisture. Ben made a slow, deliberate swipe with his tongue across the area just above the dark thatch of curls at the apex of her thighs. He watched as her legs opened for him as though he’d turned a key in a lock. She accommodated his size so easily that he couldn’t help thinking that they just  _ fit together.  _ When he felt her heels dig in between his shoulder blades, he smiled to himself. He loved when she tried to pull him in closer to where she wanted him to be without actually saying anything. A soft whimper from above made him look up once more to find her eyes trained on him. Her eyes were dark, never leaving his own, as her breaths came in pants. Ben shifted on his stomach as he felt her magic spike. She was still at full charge from their activities the night before so the pulses she was putting out practically vibrated through the room.

“Ben,  _ please _ .” Her voice was barely a whisper but he knew exactly what she needed. Never losing eye contact with her, Ben lowered his head back to the juncture of her thighs. Using his thumbs to part the shining lips of her mons, Ben dove in with his tongue. His nose bumped against her clit with every movement and he relished the sounds she made.

Rey rose up on her elbows so she could see him better. His mouth was better than any vibrator on the market could ever hope to be. It wouldn’t be too far from the truth to say she had a definite kink when it came to his nose, especially when he knew exactly how to use it in these situations. Each time she felt it against her clit, an electric jolt set every nerve ending on fire. It was like the only thing keeping her from floating off into space was his hold on her body. If he let go, she would be a goner. The pressure at her core was building already and it wasn’t fair. Her body never failed to respond to him, like a nuclear reactor overheating.

And his eyes.

Rey could distinctly remember never liking eye contact during intimate times. A time that seemed to end with Ben. It didn’t matter what he was doing to expertly get her off, his eyes were always on hers. Intense and heated, it was like he could see into her soul. Through her eyes, he could see every piece of her. The jagged edges were smoothed under his gaze, gears long dormant sprang to life with a vigor unknown in the time before him. The feelings he was inspiring seemed to transcend the physical.

Suddenly, Ben’s fingers were curling inside her, beckoning her release. Then his mouth latched onto that bud that seemed to be the source of all the magic in the world and her body just ignited. She could feel the pads of his fingers as he rubbed her g-spot with an abandon that spoke of her own desperation. Her body began to fall apart at the seams. Everything was on fire. The universe brightened with a blinding intensity but all she could see was Ben. She could feel her magic overflowing like a cup running over. The slurping sounds that Ben was making made her think that her body was overflowing as well. Her fingers found purchase in his hair but if her grip was too tight, he gave no indication. All of the sensations blended together until the only thing her body and mind could comprehend was absolute bliss. 

Vibrations continued to reverberate throughout her body as Ben moved back up her torso with a grin.

“You’re so beautiful when you come.”

Rey’s breath caught at his words, spoken like simple truth that couldn’t be refuted. She watched him suck his fingers clean between plump lips already glistening from her own juices. She hadn’t removed her hand from the softness of his hair so he leaned into her touch.

“If you keep saying things like that, I’ll have no choice but to kiss you.” As soon as she said it, Rey remembered her self-imposed stipulation that they not kiss. Kissing Ben would make all of this real. Kissing Ben would mean there were feelings involved. Kissing Ben would be incredible. Kissing Ben would end her. 

Ben’s face became serious then. Was this when he would tell her that he couldn’t help her anymore?

“You’re beautiful all the time,” he whispered. “But when you come, you’re glowing with such raw power. Every deity pales in comparison. Rey, when you come, you aren’t just channeling the Goddess. You  _ are _ the Goddess.”

_ Fuck it. _

With a tight grip on his hair, Rey closed the remaining distance between their faces and crushed her lips to his. He returned the kiss instantly, flattening himself against her body until it seemed every part of them was touching in some way. The feel of his lips, plush yet demanding against her own, filled her with a sense of urgency. Loosening her grip on his hair, Rey settled for merely carding her fingers through the silken strands. Ben made a sound low in his throat that echoed through her body. She could feel her magic practically vibrating with joy each time his tongue brushed against hers. 

The entire time, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was how they should always be. 

_ “I would fly you to the moon and back if you’ll be—“  _ Ben’s phone started to ring and vibrate loudly from the nightstand beside the bed, busting them apart like an ice bath. 

“Shit! Fuck, fucking shut up!” Ben’s curses went unheeded as the song continued. 

_ “I’ve got a ticket for a world where we belong.” _

Rey couldn’t stifle her laughter as Ben moved without an ounce of grace or finesse in his long limbs. He rolled, still very much naked, to the edge of the bed until he could reach the offending device. Instead of grabbing it however, he somehow managed to knock it off the nightstand where it slid under the bed. 

“Fucking hell,” he muttered as he knelt in the floor, reaching with every bit of dignity left in his body. At least the alarm had stopped when the phone fell. 

Rey scooter herself to the side of the bed and found her action rewarded by the most beautiful pair of puppy dog eyes that had ever graced the planet. As he brushed his hair back out of his face, Rey could see how the tips of his ears were tinged pink. 

“So, um, that wasn’t exactly smooth.” Rey ran her fingers down the bridge of his nose, unable to keep her hands off of him for very long apparently and shook her head. 

“Decidedly not smooth,” she smirked, “but still very handsome.” Ben returned her smile before hauling himself up from the floor. As he started pulling his jeans on, Rey could see the moles and beauty marks dotted across his skin. Idly, she wondered what picture they would make if she were to join them together with a pen. It wasn’t until he was pulling his shirt on that she realized he was getting dressed to leave. “Hey, I’ve got a later shift at the garage. We could, I don’t know, continue where we left off.” Ben’s eyes softened at her words. He leaned down over her body and pressed his lips to hers once more. Her magic sang at his closeness.

As he pulled back until only their foreheads were touching, she noticed the lights flickering out of the corner of her eye. She’d have to replace the bulbs soon. They’d been flickering quite a lot lately. 

“As much as I would love nothing more than to do just that,” Ben whispered, his words fanning across her face, “I have an early tarot reading at the shop that’s been scheduled for weeks so I can’t exactly call in.” At that, Rey stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. Ben chuckled and shook his head. “You’re killing me here.” Rey giggled softly as he resumed getting dressed, only standing when he was finished to cinch her robe around her so she could walk him to the front door. 

“So,” she began, suddenly unsure of her words but feeling the need to say  _ something _ before he left her house. Before any words actually formed, the song from before started up again from his pocket. 

_ “I would fly you to the moon and back if you’ll be, if you’ll be my baby.” _

“Goddamnit,” Ben muttered as he fumbled for his phone again. “The snooze button only lasts so long.” Rey giggled as his large fingers tapped quickly at the screen. She really needed to find that song. “Okay so, I’m gonna go now that I’ve embarrassed myself in front of the pretty girl enough for one day.”

Despite his words, Ben stayed rooted to his spot. When had his hand found its way to hers?

“I should probably practice that energy spell you showed me,” Rey offered. Ben nodded his head and looked down, seemingly noticing their hands for the first time as well. 

He moved so fast then that Rey barely had time to register before she was pressed up against the front of her house. So much time when they could’ve been kissing had been wasted by not kissing and it seemed now was the perfect time to make up for it. His tongue was pliant against her own, moving in such sensual tandem that Rey felt like she was melting in his arms. Her body felt warm all over despite the cool morning breeze licking at her skin. Rey began to pull back after a moment, not wanting to interfere with his business dealings. She let her lips linger on his a bit longer before playfully pushing at his shoulder.

“Go to work, I’ll text you later.” It made her obscenely happy that Ben looked like the last thing he wanted to do was go to work. He gave her hip one last squeeze and nodded his head. As he walked towards his car parked on the curb outside her house, he began to pull his hair back into a loose ponytail. His neck exposed, Rey could see faint red lines marring the perfect pale skin. For a minute, she couldn’t believe that  _ she _ had done  _ that _ . But then she remembered the feel of his tongue curling inside her and suddenly, it wasn’t difficult to believe at all. He unleashed this animalistic side in her where it felt like she could conquer the world.

Ben gave a small wave before he drove off and Rey stepped back into her house feeling lighter than air. Like she could fly all the way to the moon.

With that thought in her mind, she rushed down the hall to get to her phone so she could look up the song that had been playing all morning.

Hours later, Rey was already bored. The energy spell that Ben had shown her had been fairly easy to figure out. It was classified as defense magic, being able to focus your magic into a ball of energy that could be used to force objects in any direction. Someone with telekinesis, like Ben, wouldn’t have much use for the spell. But she thought it was definitely useful to know how to use magic as a way of defending herself. 

However, after using the spell to move all of the furniture in her house, Rey felt like she had it in the bag. Flopping down on her newly positioned bed, Rey grabbed her phone and saw that she still had a few hours before she had to be at the garage for her shift. As she tried to figure out a way to kill that time, her altar caught her eye. Or, more specifically, the books beside her altar.

The ones Ben had lent her from the shop.

A smirk curled on her face as she thought to herself,  _ I should probably return those. _

With a plan in her mind, Rey got dressed in clothing more suitable for being out in public than her robe. She found a t-shirt with a pentacle on it that she’d bought shortly after finding out she was a witch and thought it was a humorous purchase. She pulled on a pair of shorts that could comfortably be worn under her coveralls for work and grabbed the books before heading out.

On the short drive to SolOccult, Rey couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. It was a sensation that made the hairs on her arms stand on end. The sensation was disconcerting to say the least. As she got out of her car, she looked around but didn’t see anything but a few passing cars. Perhaps she was just being paranoid. Hugging the books to her chest, Rey walked quickly into the store. If anywhere would be safe, it would be where Ben was.

Rey was surprised when she wasn’t greeted by the squeal from Rose she’d grown accustomed to. After seeing that Rose was with a customer, she shot the other woman a wave and made her way over to the books. She didn’t see Ben anywhere but the door to the room he always appeared out of was closed so she assumed he was with a customer as well. Rey placed her borrowed books on the shelf and began to peruse other titles.

Just as she was giggling about the title of one called Vulvamancy, she heard the door open.

“Just remember what I said about the Eight of Pentacles, you make your own luck. I think you should be fine with that job interview. You’re dedicated and they should be able to see that.” At the sound of Ben’s voice, Rey turned with a smile on her face. That smile immediately fell as she saw the way the customer was looking at Ben. She felt her fist clench slightly as she watched the woman’s hand curl around Ben’s arm.

“Ben, I just can’t tell you how grateful I am for you. How can I ever show my appreciation?” 

Rey grimaced at the woman’s obvious attempt at flirting but Ben simply shook her hand off of him. It was then that she noticed a change on his face. When he looked up, his eyes found Rey’s with ease and and he smiled brightly.

“That’s nice Karen,” he said, completely ignoring her question, “Rose will handle your payment.” At that, he walked over to Rey and grabbed her hand. Rey gasped to feel his hand in hers once more. The morning seemed like such a long time ago. “Hey I didn’t know you were stopping by.” His face was so close once more, her breath came up short.

“Karen seems quite taken with you,” Rey said with an arched brow towards the woman in question, staring wistfully at Ben’s back as she waited for Rose to finish up with her current customer. Ben glanced over his shoulder and chuckled. When he faced Rey again, a look of recognition crossed his features and his smile became positively wicked.

“Are you  _ jealous _ ?” Rey’s eyes went wide at his (entirely accurate) assumption and she shook her head.

“Of course not, that’s absurd!” She tried to ignore the way his other hand had curled around her hip, drawing her ever closer to his body. “I just thought I would return the books you kindly let me borrow and I happened to come in as you were finishing up your appointment with a woman who looks at you like you personally hung the stars in the sky. That’s all.” She had never before seen a sarcastic looking head nod but Ben managed it.

“Uh huh, well you got me. That doesn’t sound like jealousy at all.” Rey rolled her eyes as Ben stepped around her. At first, she thought he was shelving the books she’d brought back. But then, she felt his nose at the side of her neck as he placed a kiss just under her earlobe. “But just so you know, the only person I want looking at me like I hung the stars is you.”

“Are you trying to make up for your lack of suavity this morning?” Even as she asked the question, she tilted her head to the side to give him easier access.

“Is it working,” he asked in response, sucking her earlobe between his teeth and making her hiss. Rey mumbled in agreement, the only response her brain seemed prepared to give with him so close. “You practiced. Your magic is a little lower than it was this morning.” Again, Rey could only manage a mumble of assent.

In a flash, his lips were gone as Ben began tugging her along behind him. It took a moment for Rey to realize they were in the room Ben always appeared from. There was a table in the center of the room with various tarot cards arranged in what she’d learned to be a fairly common spread. On one side, there was a counter somewhat small than the one in the main area of the store. Its surface was covered by tiny bottles and a copper still sitting beside a hot plate. She knew the shop sold essential oils and potions so it made sense that they would be made there too. On the other side of the room, a desk had been pushed up against the wall. There were dip pens of every shape and color with inks to match. That had to be Ben’s section of the room, Rey surmised. 

She didn’t get the chance to really appreciate the room’s furnishings however as a pair of hands on her hips suddenly hoisted her off the ground. Ben plopped her down on the table, right on top of the tarot cards, and situated himself between her knees. 

“Ben what on earth are you doing,” Rey squealed with laughter as the stubble from Ben’s face tickled her neck. While he was in different clothes from what he’d worn leaving her house, she guessed that he hadn’t actually gone home to change and shave. Knowing that her scent would undoubtedly be on him still gave her a small thrill.

“I figured you might want a top-up before work.” His smirk positively melted her insides. He was so pleased with himself over his stupid joke that she rolled her eyes at him.

“I actually just wanted to see you.” At her words, Ben’s eyes softened instantly. His hands slowed on her hips until he was merely holding her. He returned the tender smile she gave him. “I also wanted to ask you about that song from this morning.” Ben knit his brows together.

“My alarm?” Rey laughed at the memory of the song constantly going off all morning while Ben fought with his phone.

“Yeah, I just thought maybe it meant something to you.” She knew she could just come out and ask why he’d chosen that particular song as an alarm but something inside her desired a specific answer and she wasn’t sure if she was prepared to hear something other than that.

“Well the song is a little older but it makes me think of you. So I started using it for my alarm when I stayed over at your house. You usually sleep through it actually. This morning I woke up before it went off and, well you know the rest.” Ben licked his lips, as though he was remembering  _ the rest _ that had taken place. It made Rey want to draw his lip between her teeth.

“So, would you?” Her question came out in a small, uncertain voice. For some reason, the confidence she usually felt in Ben’s presence flew out the window and everything felt painfully  _ real _ . 

“Would I what? Fly you to the moon and back?” He laughed softly before noticing the look in Rey’s eyes as she nodded her head. He brought his hands up to cup her face, using his thumbs to brush the apples of her cheeks, understanding and rejoicing at the weight behind her question. “Of course I would. And wherever else you want to go after that too.” Rey smiled up at him, her hands then mirroring his own. Her touch felt like a wave of peace and home. “Whatever you want Rey, I’m here.”

“You, Ben, just you.”

The words didn’t hang between them. There were no pregnant pauses. There was action, the only action they could freely demand of the other. The action of lips and tongues and teeth. A battle of lusts and feelings that stole the air from their lungs.

Rey felt herself being flattened on the table’s surface and took him with her. His body covered hers as his mouth sucked a bruise into the side of her neck. She gasped as she felt his teeth nip at her collarbone. He was everywhere at once, like a shadow made corporeal. Her mind floundered for an explanation that would make sense but there wasn’t one to be found. It was just Ben. As his hands pushed underneath her shirt and along the waistband of her shorts, she realized he fully intended to make good on his earlier request to give her a  _ top-up _ .

“Ben honey, do you remember where—oh,  _ oh. _ ”

Rey turned to see a woman standing in the doorway, brown hair streaked with silver in a long braid that fell to her waist. She wore a t-shirt that said  “Pagans Against the Patriarchy” and a pair of blue jeans, a floor length lace kimono completing her look. She exuded a regal quality and Rey didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or in awe.

“Mom, what the hell!”  _ Wait, mom? _

Ben scrambled to get off of Rey as the woman backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Rey took his hand as he helped her back to her feet. As she took a moment to right her clothes, a soft knock came from the door.

“You know, in my day, we put a sock on the doorknob to prevent this kind of thing.”

“Please shut up,” Ben said at the door. Raucous laughter followed his request. Rey buried her face in her hands to hide her laughter and embarrassment in equal measure. It didn’t exactly work. “So, that was my mother.” His explanation as to the woman’s presence did nothing to quell the mortification flooding her bloodstream as she remembered just who his mother was.

“You mean your mother the High Priestess who just caught us making out in her place of business?” Ben shrugged but Rey could see the tips of his ears were colored a bright red.

“Technically, we both own the place so it’s my place of business too.” Rey smacked him in the shoulder for his complete lack of help. “This was going to happen sooner or later. Might as well get it over with.” Rey looked down to see his outstretched hand and realized that if she left the room with him, that it would mean something. Something big. 

With a deep breath, she took his hand.

Leia stood at the counter with Rose, waiting impatiently for her son to emerge from the catch-all room with the girl she’d caught him with. She knew there had been a change in Ben over the past few weeks and couldn’t help hoping that this girl was the cause. She’d refrained from prying, a feat of magic in and of itself, until now. When she entered the shop, she could feel the difference in the aura of the building. It was the same lightness she was accustomed to feeling after a good cleansing or meditation session. But there were jets of orange in that lightness which she could attribute to no one within their little family at the shop. While she didn’t possess her son’s gifts for sensing magic exactly, she could deduce this girl had to be the root of it.

Rose had told her that Ben had a customer but Rose had never been a good liar. She could tell immediately that  _ customer _ wasn’t the word for whoever Ben was with. So she opened the door, finding that he hadn’t even bothered to lock it either with the actual lock on the door or with a sigil, to see her son sandwiching the girl in question between himself and their reading table. You could cut they energy in the room with a knife and Leia was faintly aware that, had she waited just a few moments later, she would’ve been interrupting something much more…in depth.

The door opened to reveal one Ben Solo, looking every bit the child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, hand in hand with the cookie jar herself.

Leia couldn’t help herself.

“You know, I don’t mind you using the room for your recreational activities. Just lock the door next time.” Before Ben could respond with what she was positive would be a snippy comment, she held her hand out to the girl. “Blessed be dear, I’m Leia, Ben’s mother.”

Rey shook Leia’s hand quickly, practically bouncing the older woman from the force of it.

“You, you’re a High Priestess,” Rey whispered as though it was some secret she was nervous to divulge. “I’ve never met a High Priestess before. Am I supposed to bow?” In answer to her own question, Rey dropped her head in a small curtsy as Leia let out a peal of laughter.

“Oh I like her!” Leia clapped her hands with mirth as Rey looked from Ben to the woman. Ben chuckled at his mother, feeling her joy radiating with her magic in sync with the nervous energy coming off of Rey.

“Mom, this is Rey. I’m, we were, well,” Ben floundered, unsure of how to describe what he and Rey were to each other. In his pause, Rey seemed to come back into herself.

“Ben is helping me with my magic. I’m still new to all of this and he’s been amazing getting me through it. We’ve become quite close over the past few weeks.” Leia nodded her head at Rey’s explanation.

“Quite close,” she echoed, a smile on her lips, “so that’s what the kids are calling it these days.” A pretty blush colored Rey’s cheeks as she looked at Ben. Leia watched as they shared a look, knowing quite well what a look like that meant, whether these two were ready to admit it or not. “I’m sorry dear, what did you say your classification was again?”

Suddenly, both Rey and Ben spoke at once.

“She didn’t, mother.”

“I’m a sex witch.”

Leia ignored her son to focus on Rey’s words. A yoni witch, she no longer had to wonder about the exact type of help Ben was providing. But that look they’d shared, there was something more there.

“Oh honey I haven’t met a yoni practitioner in years. That’s absolutely marvelous! You know, the lunar and yoni used to be one, centuries ago of course but still. I’m glad you two were able to find each other.” Rey’s eyes shined with some unnamed emotion and Leia could see her grip on Ben’s hand had tightened.

The sound of an engine turning over rang out from Rey’s pocket so she pulled her phone out. Dameron Automotive flashed across the screen so she excused herself from the trio to answer the call.

“Poe what’s up?”

“Hey Sunshine, would you mind coming in a little earlier than scheduled? Finn’s tied up with an engine rebuild and two techs called in so I could use an extra hand around here.” Rey turned to see Ben speaking with his mother and Rose and felt a smile pull at her mouth.

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll be there. You owe me Dameron.” She could hear the grin in his voice when he replied,

“You know I’m good for it. See you soon Sunshine.”

The call ended and Rey walked back over to Ben. She didn’t think anything of slipping her hand back into his to get his attention. He immediately looked down at her and smiled.

“That was Poe at the garage. He needs me to come in early so I’m gonna head out. It was lovely meeting you Leia. Sorry Rose, we didn’t really get a chance to talk. I’ll call you later Ben, okay?” Ben leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a quick peck that made her yearn for more.

“Be careful,” he whispered. Rey nodded and left the shop, Ben staring after her until her car was no longer visible from inside. With a small smile on his face, he turned to see both his mother and sister staring at him with knowing looks on their faces. “What?”

Leia’s shoulders shook with barely concealed laughter as Rose broke out into a fit of giggles.

“Son, if you don’t invite that girl to the Gathering, I’m barring you from attending.” Though said between chuckles, Ben knew his mother was serious. Considering the Sacred Hill Gathering was one of the biggest festivals of the year, not including the holiday festivals of course, and he was the son of the High Priestess, Ben couldn’t exactly miss it.

“Joke’s on you woman, I was already planning on inviting Rey.” Leia rolled her eyes as if to say ‘sure you were’.

“I’m serious sweetie, hang on to that girl. I’ve got a good feeling about her.”

Ben ducked his head down to press a kiss to his mother’s forehead. “Me too mom, me too.”

* * *

 

Poe owed her so much. Like, overtime and then some. When he’d called her in early, he’d failed to mention that the shop was swamped with far more than they were used to for the time of day. Three cars needed an oil change, another needed the tires rotated, one needed the fan belts replaced, two were up for a battery change, and the one she was currently sat on the floor next to was infuriating her with every lack of code it gave her OBD scanner.

It didn’t make any sense. The car had been stalling out on the owner. There was obviously something wrong. But she couldn’t fix whatever was wrong unless it gave her a code that would tell her where to look for what was wrong.

“Damn thing can’t be plugged in right,” she muttered to herself. Leaning further into the front floorboard of the car, she yanked the scanner from the car’s port with more force than was absolutely necessary. She could see dust had gathered around the holes of the port and figured that could possibly hinder the connection to the scanner. Determined to get a reading on the car before moving on to the next one, Rey used her fingers to brush away the dust and dirt in the way.

As soon as her finger touched the port, a vision of wires took her through the car’s engine. Rey pulled her hand back and the vision stopped. Her breathing was heavy, a feeling of excitement coursed through her veins. She remembered Ben once telling her that if anything odd began happening that seemed magic at all, to just go with it and to trust her instincts and her magic to take care of her. With that in mind, she reached out to touch the port again.

The wires weren’t tangled, that was the first thing her mind latched on to. They were flat and curving in that particular way that automotive manufacturers intended them to be. It looked just like her textbooks from vocational school. As she followed the path the wires took, she came to a familiar piece of equipment. The small flat metal box that housed the car’s onboard computer. She followed the wires until they took her to the edge of the box. As she came closer, she began to get the same feeling of dread she got anytime her old laptop crashed.

_ Error. Error. Error. _

The word repeated itself in her mind over and over until Rey finally shook her head. The action didn’t made the repetition stop though.

“Okay okay, stop saying ‘error’ and tell me what the error is.” The request had been entirely sarcastic as Rey didn’t expect a response. So she was thoroughly surprised when the word stopped.

_ Error unknown. Computer malfunction. _

“Holy shit, you responded. So I can talk to cars now? Okay Rey, just roll with this. Um, is the malfunction the reason the car is stalling?” It took a moment, long enough for her to think she’d gone well and truly insane, but the car responded.

_ Affirmative. _

Rey pushed further into the vision, getting closer to the computer itself.

“Can you show me the malfunction?”

Her request was met with a change in the vision and she found herself inside the computer’s box. Everything looked fine at first, no wires that weren’t supposed to be there. She couldn’t see anything out of place.

_ On your left. _

At the computer’s directive, Rey looked to her left. There was the electronic control module, not much more than a standard circuit board. But that circuit board was encoded with the software that told the car how to run.

That’s when it hit her.

“Is the malfunction a software issue?”

_ Affirmative. _

Rey laughed at what she was about to ask the car to do, feeling somewhat like an IT tech speaking to an elderly customer about a printer problem.

“Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?”

_ You suggest a hard system reset. This solution could suffice. _

Suddenly, Rey found herself back on the concrete floor of the shop. Every light in the car turned on then, on the brightest setting they had, it seemed. Then it went dark, the car was silent and she could’ve heard a pin drop.

_ Reset successful. Thank you. _

Rey stared at the car for a minute, trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened.

“I can talk to cars,” she giggled, disbelief coloring her voice as she plugged the scanner back in, satisfied that it showed no codes stored. As she climbed into the driver’s seat to take the car for a run around the block to make sure the system reset had actually fixed the stalling problem, she smiled to herself. “I can’t wait to tell Ben about this.”

The moment Ben stepped into the waiting area of Dameron Automotive, he was inundated with the smell of motor oil, a scent now intrinsically ties to Rey in his mind. It made him smile immediately. 

Two men were standing behind a desk talking about some part or another and had yet to notice him. From the descriptions Rey had given him, he assumed they were Poe and Finn. 

Rey had been at work for a few hours so he hoped she would be able to take a lunch break. He’d gone to her favorite Chinese place, at least what he guessed was her favorite if the takeout containers in her refrigerator were anything to go by, and got some food for them. Setting the bag of takeout on the counter, Ben cleared his throat. 

“Hi, is Rey around?”

As the two men looked him over, Ben remained still. He was used to being judged by his odd looks. Being over six feet tall with long hair tended to attract eyes. Momentarily, he hoped that Rey’s surrogate brothers liked him. But then he remembered the story Rey had told him about how they had laughed at her and he suddenly didn’t care what they thought of him in the slightest. 

The men had obviously deduced that he wasn’t a customer because they came around the desk, stood shoulder to shoulder in front of him, trying to look as imposing as possible. 

Very few people were imposing to Ben. 

“She’s out at the moment. Who are you?” The one he’d guessed was Poe looked up at him, seemingly unsure what this strange man could want with their Rey. 

“Ben Solo,” he clipped, “a friend of Rey’s. I take it you’re Poe.” Ben inclined his head towards the other man, “which means you’re Finn.” It was obvious Rey hadn’t said a word to them about him which Ben couldn’t exactly fault her for considering their treatment of the news she’d given them. 

Poe bowed up a little bit, sticking his chest out to appear bigger. The posturing made Ben smirk. 

“If you’re such good friends, how come we haven’t heard anything about you?” Finn nodded his agreement with Poe’s question but Ben just rolled his eyes. 

“Perhaps she’s not comfortable sharing certain aspects of her personal life with people who laugh at her when she shares things that are important to her.”

Ben noted the realization that dawned on both men’s features. They certainly hadn’t expected that. Suddenly, Finn stepped closer with a pen in his hand, jabbing it lightly in the middle of Ben’s chest. 

“Are you the freak that’s gotten Rey mixed up in this cult nonsense?” Ben laughed at that. It was obvious that they cared for Rey but this was an absurd amount of close-mindedness coming from people she held dear. 

“Rey isn’t mixed up in a cult, you half-wit. She revealed something about herself that was important to her to the two people she cares most about and got made fun of for her trouble. If I were in your shoes, I’d be ashamed of myself. Rey deserves all the support and love in the world because she’s an incredible person and more powerful than anyone I’ve ever met. If you two haven’t apologized yet, I suggest you do that soon.” 

Finn raised his pen to poke at Ben’s chest again but Ben had had enough. He held his hand aloft and pulled the pen into it, holding back laughter at the dumbstruck looks on both of their faces. 

“What the hell,” the two said in unison. 

Ben concentrated his magic on the pen in his hand and smiled as it floated between the three of them. 

“Be careful who you call a freak.”

The door to the garage suddenly swung open, breaking his concentration, and the pen clattered to the floor. All three men looked to see Rey walking in, completely unaware of what had just conspired.

“Okay guys, I finished up the with the Crown Vic so it’s running great and  _ Ben you’re here _ !”

The next thing he knew, Rey was running towards him at full speed so he did the only thing he could think of. He caught her in his arms and swung her around, loving the sound of her laughter as he did so. When she pressed her lips to his in a hungry kiss, he greedily sucked her bottom lip between his teeth. She made it easy to forget there were other people in the world, let alone the room.

As he set her back down on the ground, she smiled up at him. There was a smudge of grease on her cheek that made her look absolutely adorable.

“Hi,” Ben whispered, “I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some takeout.” At that revelation, her eyes practically lit up. Ben watched as she ran over and grabbed the bag of food off the counter before taking his hand and pulling him towards a hallway. He assumed that the employee lounge was down there somewhere.

“I’m gonna take my lunch now boys,” she called behind her to Poe and Finn. “I’m so happy you’re here because I was gonna call you on my lunch. Something amazing happened while I was working on this Crown Victoria earlier and now I get to tell you in person.”

As the two disappeared into the lounge, Poe and Finn stared after them, still trying to wrap their heads around what had happened within the last five minutes. Poe turned to his boyfriend who was scratching his own head.

“What just happened?”

* * *

 

Phasma shuffled through the photos they had taken of Kylo’s equal, the girl called Rey, until she found the one she was looking for. As she slid the camera across the Supreme Leader’s desk, the older man picked up the device with something akin to disdain on his heavily scarred features. 

“We’re positive sir. You can see the books she’s carrying here,” she pointed to the zoomed in image where the book titles were clearly visible, “are all books on sex magic. This Rey must be a sex witch.”

Snoke steepled his fingers after studying the photo the lovers had produced for him. It was certainly paying off, having them follow the girl as she progressed.

“It would seem,” he smiled to himself over the possibilities that suddenly presented themselves, “that the lunar and yoni could be ready to converge once more after all these centuries.”

  
  



	6. Blessed Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to my beta [drnucleus](https://drnucleus.tumblr.com) for all her support!
> 
> Sorry this took so long to update, RL for both myself and drnucleus has been kicking our butts! Come find me on Twitter, since tumblr is doing this NSFW ban @27vampyresihm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6: Blessed Be

“This entire thing is an utter farce. You would rather waste all of our time having Phasma and I follow that traitor and his little pet around when what we should be doing is crushing them. It would be all too easy to end the girl’s life. She doesn’t even know she’s being watched. And then, when Kylo comes running in to save the day like the fool he is, we can end him just as easily. Even if they were to manage to unite the lunar and yoni, which is highly unlikely even under perfect conditions, why does it fucking matter? Kylo Ren is a traitor to the Collection and you’re a fool to think he could be swayed back!”

 

Phasma knew what was coming before the ancient man even moved a finger. She watched as her love was thrown across the room for his outburst. He crashed into a bookshelf with all the destructive force of a wrecking ball, sending tomes older than all of them combined flying around the room. Hux should’ve known better than to challenge their master.

 

For the first time in years, she found herself at a loss for what to do; rush to Hux’s side and more than likely join him pinned against the wall or remain rooted to her spot until both men were finished with their dangerous posturing. 

 

“You dare to call me foolish,” the older man snarled as Hux gasped for breath, “when you’ve allowed this grudge you have against my former apprentice to cloud even your most basic sense of judgment? Armitage Hux, you would do well to remember that as long as I allow you breath in the Collection, you belong to me. You will obey without question or be put down like the rabid cur you’ve become.”

 

Hux fell to the floor in a heap, fighting to regain control of his breathing and the urge to set the room alight. He could feel Phasma’s touch from across the room as tendrils of her magic reached for him to cool the flames in his mind. His affection for her grew exponentially as he felt his temper quell. Her actions were very possibly keeping them all alive. 

 

Snoke allowed him space to stand once more, returning to his desk with what appeared to be a thoughtful expression on his face. Hux could only assume since the wrinkles and marred flesh concealed so much. 

 

“As for Kylo Ren rejoining us, you may have been correct at one time. But now, oh now, we know the key to him. The two of you will continue keeping an eye on Kylo and this Rey until such time as I decide that she is ripe for collecting. And at that time, the two of them can be properly ushered into their rightful place.”

 

* * *

 

Feeling the warmth of Ben’s hand in her own had quickly become one of Rey’s most favorite feelings in the world.  It was actually a three way tie between that, waking up wrapped in his arms, and coming on his tongue.

As they walked through the little vendor section of the Gathering, she found herself getting increasingly distracted by Ben rather than all of the amazing handmade crafts they were surrounded by. Everything was so beautiful but Ben was even more so.

 

He looked like some elven deity, a loose charcoal tunic covered his torso but fell just short of concealing his ass. A fact Rey was eternally grateful for because the tight black trousers he wore left nothing to the imagination. That didn’t stop Rey’s imagination from running wild with all the ideas she wanted to do with him if they ever got the chance to be alone. He’d even let Rose put a few braids in his hair after making her promise she wouldn’t go overboard. Her own instructions for when Rose got to her head were the exact opposite. She’d wanted the woman to go absolutely crazy with her hair since it was her first festival since finding out she was a witch.

 

Walking around, hand in hand with Ben, Rey could feel people looking at them. At first, it had bothered her. She couldn’t help thinking that they would view her as an interloper in their world. Some scavenger of belonging come to swoop in and take the High Priestess’s son from them. As if Ben could sense those dangerous thoughts, he’d promptly turned and kissed her in full view of a large number of festival attendees. As she’d stood there, breathless with her face cupped in his palms and staring up into his endless eyes, he’d pressed his forehead to hers and said,

 

“Hey, I’m right here. You’re not alone.”

 

Those simple words dispelled whatever fears and anxieties her mind had dreamed up.

 

“Would you like a crown miss?”

 

Rey was pulled from her thoughts by a young girl, maybe nine or ten, standing in front of them with her arms covered in flower crowns. The child was clearly intimidated by Ben’s size so Rey smiled and knelt down.

 

“Only if you have one he can wear as well,” she stage-whispered to the child, motioning to Ben with her head. The girl’s eyes grew huge at the thought of the man in front of her wearing a flower crown. Above them, Rey heard Ben groan softly.

 

“I’m not wearing a crown,” he muttered while attempting to not frighten the child. It was odd because Rey could’ve sworn she heard him say it in her mind before he actually said it out loud. 

 

“Rose will tase me if I mess up my hair.” Rey turned to see him push some of his hair that had been left unbraided behind his ear. At his feeble excuse, Rey selected a crown of daisies and plopped it onto her own head.

 

“See? Doesn’t muss up the braids at all.” She could tell he was trying to figure out if he should laugh or roll his eyes at her. As she stood back up, he reached out and straightened the crown on her head so that it wouldn’t fall off. After a moment, he sighed and mumbled,

 

“I swear you could get me to do anything with that smile.” Before Rey had a chance to analyze his words, Ben knelt down in front of the little girl. “Which one do you think I should get,” he asked. The child looked up at Rey once more as if to ask ‘is he serious?’ Rey did her best to stifle her giggles.

 

Then, struck by an epiphany, the girl grabbed another crown of daisies, albeit with a bit more greenery than the one sitting atop Rey’s head, and gently placed it on Ben’s.

 

Pleased with her work, the child ran off, leaving Ben on his knees in front of Rey.

 

“Well, what do you think?” Rey could tell by his tone that he fully expected her to laugh. But staring down at him, laughter was the furthest thing from her mind.

 

“My prince,” she grinned down at him, and meant it to the very depths of her soul.

 

Ben got up from his knees with a grin on his face. He looked quite young when he smiled, like the ghosts of his past were taking a break from their haunting to give him a brief reprieve. Rey loved when she could make him smile.

 

She felt her magic spark as he drew closer to her, one large hand cupping her face while the other found its home at her waist. Like always, her magic reached for him with the grabby hands of a toddler. Rey could feel his own magic reaching right back.

 

Before his lips descended on hers, she heard him whisper,

 

“My Queen.”

 

Images began to flash across her mind’s eye, bodies entwined in a dance as ancient as the aether itself. Rey instantly recognized the two people as her and Ben. As that recognition dawned, she felt the pull towards him that she always felt. The yearning ache to be closer to him on a molecular level she’d come to realize was her magic reaching for him.

 

Rey pulled away from the kiss with a gasp and one look at Ben told her he’d shared in the vision.

 

Ben then cleared his throat, the sound pulling Rey back to earth whether she wanted it to or not. She wanted to ask him what the hell had just happened but it felt wrong to do so in such a public environment. As Ben grabbed her hand and began leading her through the vendor market once more, she resigned that she would ask him about the shared vision, and what it meant for them, later. 

 

Every instinct in his body was telling Ben that he needed to take Rey back to his tent and make the vision they’d just shared into a reality. It wasn’t just primal urges and lust running amok, it felt bigger than the both of them. He’d never felt something so strongly in the aether before. Like a plan set in motion, centuries before their shared existence, was falling into place and all that was needed was one last step.

 

Their magic continued to ebb and flow, mingling together as if it wanted to become one, as Ben lead Rey through the market section. He’d wanted to introduce her to the various members of the Jedha coven but it seemed that the majority of them already knew who Rey was. He assumed his mother had been blabbing to everyone. Rey never seemed bothered by it though, laughing and joking with them all with that smile on her face that brought him to his knees. 

 

He managed to dodge the knowing looks from his Aunt Ahsoka as Rey talked animatedly about the defensive magic he’d taught her. He could still remember when Ahsoka had taught the same spells to him as a child, instructing him to show the magic to someone he cared about so they would be able to protect themselves. At the time, Ben had taken that to mean his family which didn’t make any sense. All the other witches in his family had no issues protecting themselves. But now that he’d shown it to Rey, the meaning became more clear to him than it had ever been.

 

Rey pulled him over to a table full of all manner of knitted and crocheted items. He chuckled at the way she fawned over every item she came across. An older woman, far older than she looked, with a beautiful headscarf adorning her head stepped up from behind the table in front of Rey.

 

“Blessed be dear girl,” she spoke softly, weathered hands covering Rey’s own. Rey smiled at the gesture.

 

“Merry meet, sister.” Ben couldn’t help smiling at her response. She had no idea who she was speaking to but she always showed them respect no matter what.

 

“Rey,” he stepped closer to her, “I’d like you to meet Luminara Unduli, one of the founding members of the Jedha coven. Luminara, this is Rey.” Luminara rested her impossibly blue eyes on Ben and he knew she expected him to elaborate but he didn’t really know what else to say. When he didn’t do as she expected, Ben felt her shoot a dart of disappointment through her magic. 

 

She knew he could feel it and  _ harrumphed _ at his wince as if to say ‘you deserved that’.

 

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you Rey. Priestess Leia has regaled us all with tales of your growing abilities and lovely soul. I’m glad to see she wasn’t exaggerating for storytelling purposes.” Rey blushed at the knowledge that his mother had been speaking so highly of her.

 

She always wanted to make a good impression on Leia considering the state she’d been in at their first meeting. While Leia had insisted that she’d found the entire thing quite humorous, Rey still suffered from residual embarrassment every time she was in her presence. It wasn’t just because she was Ben’s mother either. Leia was an important figure in this community Rey found herself a part of. Hearing numerous reports, from practically everyone she’d met that day so far, that Leia truly seemed to like her and approve of her presence in Ben’s life made Rey’s heart swell to bursting.

 

“Thank you ma’am, I just hope I can live up to the stories.” Luminara let out a hearty laugh, as though Rey not living up to expectations was impossible, and shook her head.

 

“You’ve certainly nothing to worry about dear.”

 

A young man approached Luminara to ask about the price of an item so she left them to their own devices. Rey picked up a scarf from the table and ran it through her fingers. The material was so soft but there was something different about it, about all of the items Luminara had displayed for purchase. It was like each thing had its own signature, a force unique to it. She wondered for a moment if she was once again doing that odd borrowing thing her magic seemed to do around Ben and she was experiencing the way he could feel magic. But Ben felt magic in other people; he’d never mentioned feeling magic in objects.

 

“You feel it, don’t you?” Ben’s voice in her ear sounded like warm honey. She nodded her head, wanting to curl into his body but feeling at the same time that even that wouldn’t be close enough.

 

“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me,” she quipped, knowing that he wouldn’t reply to her double entendre out loud, even if she could practically hear it in her mind all the same.

 

_ We’d need a lot more privacy in order for me to rub off on you like we both want. _

 

“Luminara uses wands that she’s crafted into knitting needles and crochet hooks to make all of her things. Because of that, all of her things are imbued with her magic. She can even put specific charms into things if you want. Scarves that allow you to fade into the periphery for someone who doesn’t like attention, gloves to attract prosperity, a headband for concentration. She can make practically anything. Look at the price tags, she lists the charm used on there in case you’re looking for a certain one.”

 

Rey looked down at the scarf in her hand and found the price tag. On it, in breathtaking script (was calligraphy a magic thing or something?) underneath the price was the word ‘Confidence’.

 

“Well now I want to look at everything here,” Rey said as she grabbed a pair of gloves and eagerly read their price tag. Ben placed a kiss on her forehead before replying,

 

“Have fun with that.”

 

Stepping away so Rey could look her fill, Ben perused Luminara’s booth as well. His mother’s birthday was coming up in the next few weeks and he knew she loved Luminara’s work. He selected a hooded shawl that just screamed Leia’s aesthetic at him and a pair of fingerless gloves for Rose just because. Considering how excited Rey had gotten over the beautiful items, he wanted to get her something as well.

 

When he looked up, Rey was standing in front of a mannequin wearing a dark grey asymmetrical cowl. In his mind, he could already envision her wearing it and possibly nothing else. It would look perfect on her regardless, like Luminara had made it with her in mind.

 

“Luminara,” he called to the crafting witch, intent on asking her the price of the cowl. As she walked up beside him, she followed his gaze before giving him a sly smile. Ben started to speak but she just shook her head.

 

“For the future daughter-in-law of Priestess Leia, it would be my honor.” Her words made Ben stutter in confusion and the need to correct her assumptions. He and Rey were barely dating officially, and definitely not engaged. Before any of his denials could be voiced out loud, Luminara shook her head again and chuckled. “I may be old dear boy but I’m certainly not blind. I’ll have it wrapped up and one of my acolytes will drop it off at your tent so you can surprise her with it.” With a final grandmotherly pat to his arm, the woman walked off and Ben decided that arguing with her wouldn’t be a wise decision. Unbidden, the image of Rey with a ring on her finger formed in his mind.

 

When Rey walked up, she noticed the package under Ben’s arm.

 

“Ooh, what’d you get?” Her question seemed to pull him out of his thoughts but when his eyes met hers, the warmth she usually found there was different somehow. Deeper.

 

“Oh uh, some things for mom and Rose. You wanna head over to the shop’s booth and say hi? I know Rose’ll want to hear all about what you think of the festival so far. I need to drop this stuff off anyway.” Rey slipped her hand into his with a grin.

 

“Sounds like a plan, let’s go.”

 

As soon as the SolOccult booth came into view, Rose ran over to them and smothered them both in hugs and squeals. When she started oohing and ahhing over their flower crowns and ‘how stupid adorable’ the two of them looked together, Ben held Rey a little tighter.

 

Something wasn’t right.

 

Ben reached out with his powers, trying to discern a threat of any kind in the aether. When it hit him, his entire body froze.

 

“Ben, what’s wrong?” Rey rubbed his hand with her thumb as if his body temperature had actually dropped as well. Rose let out a tiny gasp before whispering,

 

“I’m sorry Ben, I forgot to tell you he was going to be here.”

 

Ben’s jaw worked, muscles tensed, everything felt slowed down. He hadn’t felt this particular magic in years and would’ve preferred to keep it that way.

 

“Why the fuck didn’t mom tell me he was going to be here?” The question came out harsh and biting but Rose just shrugged her shoulders.

 

“She probably figured you’d react like this.” She made a sweeping gesture to all of him that reminded Ben that he should at least try to relax his muscles.”

 

“Okay you two, who’s here?” Ben was hesitant to answer Rey’s question but knew he didn’t really have a choice.

 

“My Uncle Luke.”

 

As if summoned by the utterance of his name, Luke, with Leia, emerged from behind booth’s tent set-up. The twins were huddled together, speaking in hushed tones as they were wont to do on the occasions they got to see each other.

 

Ben decided that he might as well bite the bullet and tell Rey why his uncle might not be the warmest of his family members.

 

“You remember how I told you about all the fucked up shit I got involved in that ultimately resulted in my father’s death? Luke and I had a falling out when I joined Snoke, and my dad dying didn’t exactly help that. He blames me for it, probably the only thing we ever agreed on actually. Luke was my teacher when my mother wasn’t available so he took my leaving as a betrayal basically. When I came back, he never trusted me again. I know he thinks that I’m always just a spell away from falling back under the influence of that same darkness before and nothing I do is ever gonna convince him otherwise. If you want an introduction, it’s probably better if I’m not around.”

 

Rey mulled over his words for a moment, eyes flitting between Ben and the older man a few yards away. 

 

“How come I’ve never seen him before?”

 

“He’s a Hermetic Druid, emphasis on ‘hermit’. He lives in Ireland on this little island called Skellig Michael. Only comes to the States when my mom asks him to, although she generally gives me a heads-up beforehand. He doesn’t exactly like people in general but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one with permanent residence on his shit-list. Seriously Rey, let Rose or mom introduce you if you want to meet him.”

 

Rey shifted on her feet for a minute, looking up at the wary expression on his face. How could anyone not see that Ben was good? Sure, his past was fucked up but from Rey’s point of view, that was fairly normal. It shouldn’t matter matter what he’d done because he’d paid his penance, done his time and was rehabilitated. The man holding her hand was not evil. His mind had been poisoned by evil. There was a difference, at least as far as Rey was concerned. If she could sense the light in him, surely an experienced Druid should be able to sense the same.

 

With that thought firmly in her mind, Rey marched right over to the brother and sister pair, leaving both Ben and Rose gaping after her.

 

“Rey dear girl, how are you? Are you having fun?” Rey immediately found herself wrapped in a hug so tight that she definitely knew where Rose got it from. Leia looked her over after releasing her and smiled. “You look beautiful, child. Your aura is positively glowing.” Rey felt herself flush at the compliment.

 

“Thank you Leia.” Steeling her nerves, she turned to the man standing next to Leia who was staring at her with mild disinterest. “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Rey.” Her introduction was met with stony silence, Luke’s eyes flitting from her hand hanging between them to her face and back again. When it appeared that he truly wasn’t going to shake her hand, Rey dropped it with as much dignity as she could muster and cleared her throat. “I’ve never met a Druid before, well I’ve technically never met many witches before at all. I’m still relatively new to this world. I’m a yoni practitioner.”

 

Luke’s eyes crinkled ever so slightly and Rey got the distinct feeling he was sizing her up. For a moment, he turned to Leia and she could swear that words had passed between them before Leia spoke.

 

“Ben has been helping Rey get started with everything. She’s also Ben’s, well,” Leia paused, searching for the right words to describe the relationship between the two of them. When she looked at Rey for assistance, Rey just shrugged.

 

“Just, um, just Ben’s, I suppose.” Leia seemed fairly pleased with that answer despite the fact that even Rey thought it didn’t make much sense, even to herself.

 

At the mention of Ben’s name, Luke visibly hardened. His eyes fixed on a place behind Rey, where she assumed Ben still stood, and she suddenly felt an extreme sense of warning. It didn’t feel the way Ben’s magic felt so she could only assumed that it was coming from Luke. Was he warning her against Ben? Rey immediately bowed up, a protective instinct welling in her stomach because how fucking dare this judgmental old fart who hadn’t even deigned to speak to her so far make any judgements on who she decided to align herself with!

 

Before Rey could actually voice any of those thoughts out loud, Luke made a grunting noise and walked off. Rey felt herself deflate, her anger dissipating now that the threat to Ben was gone. What the hell was that?

 

Leia patted her on the arm and sighed. “Please excuse my brother, sweetheart. He’s only around other people a few times a year and seems to forget any semblance of manners in the time between.” Rey nodded as she watched Luke’s retreating figure. When Ben came up behind her, hands sliding down her arms until their fingers were entwined, Rey leaned into his chest and felt her muscles relax. Just being around him could both calm and excite.

 

“Hey mom,” he greeted Leia. Rey watched a look pass between mother and son. Despite Ben’s denial that he couldn’t communicate via telepathy, she got the feeling that words were being exchanged without the use of actual words. Perhaps that’s just what it meant to have a mother. 

 

“So, Luke is here then.” Leia’s face fell minutely, enough that even Rey could tell she understood the implication of Ben’s statement.

 

“I’m sorry, honey. I meant to tell you he was coming but time just got away from me, what with the festival and everything. That’s no excuse, I know that, but I hope you know I wasn’t trying to ambush you with your uncle’s presence.” Rey could feel the muscles in Ben’s jaw working beside her cheek, like he was processing everything at once.

 

Suddenly, he released her hands and stepped around her, gathering his mother into his arms and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

 

“I know you didn’t mean anything by it Mom, it’s okay.” Rey felt like she could cry, seeing this larger than life man bend himself to embrace his mother was so heartwarming. As Ben stood once more to his full height, Leia tried to discreetly brush moisture away from her eyes. Rey felt happy that she wasn’t the only one affected.

 

“Okay, so you two know what time the skyclad ceremony starts, right? I can’t have you late.” Ben chuckled softly as Rey felt the weight of his arm around her shoulders.

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be there mom.”

 

As they waved their goodbyes to Leia so they could continue their trek through the vendors, Rey froze.

 

“Oh god,” she whispered. Instantly, Ben was in front of her with hands on her shoulders rubbing calming circles into her skin.

 

“Rey? What’s wrong?”

 

Rey took a deep breath before meeting Ben’s concerned eyes.

 

“I just remembered what skyclad means.”

 

* * *

 

The patch of grass beneath Rey’s feet was worn from her pacing. Even if Ben hadn’t noticed the way her magic had spiked, he couldn’t have possibly missed the flighty look of apprehension in her eyes.

 

“Hey,” he whispered beside her, “it’s not a big deal.” Her eyes flared at his words and he felt a shove on his shoulder despite the fact that she was standing a few feet away from him. Silently, he was proud of the control she had gained over the defensive magic he’d taught her. Normally, that type of magic required a type of mental preparation, something he’d be able to sense in the person’s magic. But she’d managed to catch him completely off guard with her use of it. He continued to be impressed by Rey even when she was using her magic against him in a manner of sorts.

 

“Not a big deal,” she echoed back at him, irritation coloring her words. “It’s most definitely a big deal. I don’t get naked in front of people! Hell, it took weeks for me to be completely naked with you in the beginning. How am I supposed to just be in a skyclad ceremony like it’s  _ no big deal _ ?”

 

Ben walked over to where Rey had continued her pacing and took her hand. She stopped her movements but he hated the fearful nervousness in her eyes as she stared up at him. He wanted to dissolve those fears with all of his power.

 

“First, nudity is not a requirement at the ceremony. Can you imagine how fucked up that would be? For a witch, nudity is a form of trust and connection. Our magic comes from the aether, and when we shed all barriers in a skyclad ceremony, it means that nothing can come between us and the force from which all magic is derived. Covens will have these types of ceremonies to establish a deeper connection, not only with the aether, but with each other. In these moments, nudity isn’t sexual at all. It’s merely a conduit of trust.”

 

He watched as Rey chewed the inside of her cheek, mulling over his words. He could practically hear her thoughts in his own mind, her doubts ebbing slowly away as she saw the sense in his speech.

 

“I trust  _ you _ ,” she whispered after a few minutes, “whether I’m naked or not.” At that, Ben pulled her into his chest and hugged her tight, determined to make absolutely certain that she understood how much he trusted her as well, possibly more than he’d ever trusted anyone in his life. When she nodded against his chest, he wondered if he’d indeed said all of that out loud.

 

“Like I said, it’s not required that everybody just strip down to nothing. Plenty of people will be completely clothed so you’ll be fine. However, now that I think of it, as a sex witch, you should feel inherently powerful when you’re naked.” Rey snorted into his chest and looked up at him again, eyes glistening softly.

 

“I feel powerful when I’m naked with  _ you _ ,” she laughed softly, “not so much with other people.” To that, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “So, you’re gonna do it then?”

 

“Of course, skyclad ceremonies are important rituals and I’m the son of a high priestess. I grew up with these ceremonies. They’re the reason I never thought of nudity being sexual, until you came along. You’ve made me view a lot of things differently.” Rey used her magic to shove at him again but Ben saw it coming this time. In response, he grabbed her hips and lifted her in the air. Instinctually, Rey’s legs went around his waist as she laughed into the darkening sky. Ben spun around, watching with delight as she threw her arms above her head in the very picture of the worry-free witch he wanted her to feel like all the time. He’d never thought he could hold perfection in his arms, before her.

 

Hand in hand, as they’d been for the majority of the day, the two walked across the grounds to the open field that had been designated as the spot for the ceremony. They passed by people Ben had introduced her to during the day, each one making it a point to say hello to them as they all continued in the same direction. Rey couldn’t remember all of their names but it felt like names weren’t all that important here. Everyone was a sister or brother to everyone else. That feeling of family and acceptance brought a tear to her eye. 

 

There was a small bonfire in the middle of the field with an ever widening circle of festival goers gathering around it. As they entered the circle, Rey spotted Leia at what she assumed was the head. When Leia waved at them, both Ben and Rey waved back. Idly, Rey wondered if Ben’s uncle would be here or if he’d decided he’d had enough of people for the day. Ben gently squeezing her hand effectively stopped that line of thought.

 

“So uh, as her son, my place in the circle is at the high priestess’s side.” Rey felt herself deflate a little. She’d hoped she could be with Ben for the ceremony, not just wanting to be near him for her first big group ritual but to be able to draw some courage from him in case she actually decided to take part in the sky-clad part since she had yet to make up her mind. 

 

“Oh, I guess I can find Rose and stand with her if I’m not allowed,” Rey offered but Ben shook his head.

 

“No, that’s not…” he paused, “I mean I want you to stand with me. I just wanted to make sure you would be okay with that since that’s a bit more of a prominent position.”

 

The sensation of being wanted, being cared for, overcame every sense of nerves she’d built up over the last few hours. Without thinking, Rey wrapped her arms around Ben’s neck and pulled him down to a greedy kiss, pouring every emotion she felt for him but was too afraid to name into it. A shockwave went through them as Ben reciprocated in kind, pulling her closer until she didn’t know where she ended and he began. It felt right, and perfect, and powerful, and home. Always home.

 

As they pulled away from each other and Ben pressed his forehead against her own, they didn’t notice how the eyes of everyone in the circle had been drawn to them, to the power that had erupted from their kiss, as that shockwave they’d shared had made itself known to everyone around them. They didn’t notice, of course, because they only had eyes for each other.

 

When they made it over to Leia, there was an inscrutable expression on her face. It was gone before they could mention it but one glance at Ben told her that he’d noticed it too.

 

“Priestess Leia,” he greeted her with a formal nod that made Rey smile, a smile that only widened when Leia rolled her eyes.

 

“I changed your diapers you sweet child of mine, I don’t know why you insist on formalities like that during these things. Come here.” Rey laughed heartily as Ben was gathered into Leia’s arms like only a mother could. She could hear Ben’s muffled voice grumbling that it was a sign of respect and that she should just accept it already. Leia winked at Rey over his shoulder before she released him. 

 

“Hush,” she playfully patted his cheek before giving Rey the same type of hug. When she’d let them go, she stood back a little and gazed at them both. “Now, let me get a good look at you two.” The woman let her eyes wander over them momentarily before she shook her head. “Hmm, you’re missing something, let’s see here.” As Rey began to look down at her clothing and wondered what they could possibly be missing for a ceremony in which most of the people were going to be removing their clothes, Leia let out a triumphant “AHA” and ran both of her hands over the top of her head. She then took their clasped hands in her own and rubbed them vigorously. In the firelight, Rey could see shiny little flecks on their hands and realized that Leia had just glitter bombed them. “There, much better,” Leia gave a satisfied sigh.

 

Ben rolled his eyes in much the same way his mother had before and just turned to take his place, tugging Rey lightly so she stood beside him.

 

As the moon rose above everyone’s heads, Rey felt a calm settle over the group. When Leia cleared her throat and addressed the people gathered, her voice was much louder than before.

 

“Blessed be, everyone. I would like to thank you all for coming to this celebration. Without everyone gathered here, our powers would not be what they are right now, that is, stronger for each of us present. I wanted to begin by welcoming our newer members tonight, your journeys may just be beginning but that doesn’t make them any less important than those of us who’ve been here for ages. The Goddess is in each of us, and each of us is in her.” Leia looked around at the gathered witches, making eye contact with each one before she continued. “Maiden, Mother, Crone, we gather here to honor you Goddess and the gifts you’ve bestowed upon the world. We ask that you continue to guide us in your nurturing arms. Though the world outside has become a dark place, with hateful rhetoric being spewed from the highest offices across this planet, we ask that you continue to show us your way. Through the love and blessings you give to us, we can truly defeat the evils of the world one day at a time, so mote it be.”

 

“So mote it be,” the circle repeated back to her.

 

“Now is the time for meditation, for recharging, for us to strip away the material vestiges that keep us tied to this mortal plane of existence, and allow the Goddess to flow through us without barriers. If you wish to remain clothed during this portion of our ceremony, I ask only that you join us by stripping the barriers of your mind so that you too can receive the Goddess’s energy with the rest of us. There is only love and trust within our circle, no judgment to be found.”

 

Rey watched as Leia began to disrobe, dropping the shawl Ben had purchased earlier in the day to the ground first. As she looked around the gathered mass of people, she found that her mouth hung open slightly at the sight before her. Witches, young and old alike, began removing articles of clothing and joining hands. Some removed only their outer clothes, choosing to remain in undergarments, while others removed everything. A larger number than Rey had expected remained completely clothed. A few of the men had taken their shirts off but kept their pants on. As everyone proceeded to their particular level of undress, Rey couldn’t stop the awe that welled up in her. The feeling of oneness she’d begun to feel in this community reached a new height. Like a circuit in a power grid, she felt connected to each and every witch that was present. The connection she felt with her magic seemed to grow by the second, something she could only liken to the post-orgasm haze of power she felt alone with Ben. Before she knew what was happening, her clothing had joined Ben’s in a pile between their feet. As she retook his hand and lifted her head to the moon above them, she felt their magic, already entangled as it was wont to do, join with each and every other witch’s in attendance. The fact that it felt like both an ending of one life and the beginning of another seemed appropriate.

 

For a circle has no beginning or end. 

 

By the time the ceremony was over, it was well past midnight. The gathering had dispersed fairly quickly, with everyone either leaving to their tents to stay until morning or gathering in smaller groups to continue with their own rituals.

 

The moon had already begun to lower in the sky as Ben and Rey made their way to the campsite that would be their sleeping quarters for the night. Rey had brought a small one person tent with her that Ben had helped her set up early that morning. He’d apparently set his up some time afterwards because she knew she would’ve remembered the ten-person monstrosity that they’d stopped in front of.

 

“Holy shit Ben, this thing is ginormous!” Beside her, Ben snorted at her word choice before shrugging his shoulders.

 

“Crouching is annoying and the only tents they make that are tall enough for me to stand up straight happen to be built for families.”

 

“Honestly, if the Weasley family had this thing for the Quidditch World Cup, they wouldn’t have even needed magic to make it bigger on the inside!” Rey could practically feel him rolling his eyes before she even turned to look at him. The smirk on his face looked positively devilish.

 

“How many times do I need to tell to chill with the Harry Potter jokes, especially at a gathering of witches?” Rey giggled as he tickled her side, a pale substitute for any real admonishment.

 

“You’re never gonna stop me from making Potter jokes, just get used to them already.” Again, Ben rolled his eyes but she knew that he actually did find her jokes humorous no matter what he tried to say to the contrary. She caught his amused smiles whenever she said certain things. He couldn’t hide from her. “I want a tour of this beast. Does it have its own bathroom and kitchenette? Should’ve known you’d be living like a king out here in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, I have a little canvas cubby hole over there. You need to show me the glamping scenario you’ve got going on here.”

 

Ben actually snorted when she used the word ‘glamping’ so she knew she was on the right track. She loved when she could make him laugh. That booming sound never failed to make her warm all the way to her toes.

 

“If I didn’t know any better, I would think you’re just using me for my awesome spacious tent.” Before Rey got the chance to roll her eyes, he bent down to unzip the flap that acted as a door, thus giving her a magnificent view of his perfect ass.

 

“Well, I’m mainly here for this,” she gave one of his butt cheeks a firm squeeze, “but the roomy tent doesn’t hurt.” Ben chuckled as he stood up straight once more, motioning with his hand for Rey to enter the tent. 

 

“Ladies first.”

 

As Rey stepped inside, the actual size of the tent hit her. On the floor, there was a large pallet made of more blankets than any one person could possibly need. Using them as a makeshift mattress seemed like a good idea though, and it certainly looked much more comfortable than the sleeping bag she had nestled in her tiny home for the evening. In the corner, he’d apparently upended his duffel bag because clothing was heaped in a small pile. There was much more natural light than she’d been expecting and when she looked up, she realized the reason. A large rectangle had been cut in the canvas and replaced by a sheet of a plastic. The moon shone through, casting the interior in a soft white glow. 

 

“You have a sunroof?” She pointed needlessly up as Ben had busied himself with zipping the tent flap back. When he turned back around and stood, (huh, he  _ could _ stand to his full height in here) he grinned at her. 

 

“Moonroof,” he corrected softly. “Lunar witch, remember?” Rey nodded, in awe as Ben stepped into the light and tilted his head up. His skin glowed in that ethereal way it always did in the moonlight but it still seemed to catch her off guard every single time. He was achingly beautiful, even more so beneath the source of his power.

 

She watched as he stepped out of his shoes before getting down on his knees on the blanket pallet. The way he looked at her, like nothing and no one else mattered, sent a pulse through her. The pull she felt towards him seemed magnified within the confines of the tent. Stronger than it had ever been, it was terrifying in its severity.

 

“Don’t be afraid,” his voice broke through the haze, “I feel it too.” Rey gasped as she felt his own fears as they mirrored hers. She toed off her own shoes before coming to stand in front of him. Her hands rested on his shoulders for only a moment before he folded himself over, prostrate at her feet. Ben’s lips pressed a soft kiss to the tops of her feet. The gentleness of his touch, of his kiss, pulled the breath from her lungs.

 

_ Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways. _

 

His hands burned a trail up her legs, caressing her calves in a way that had her magic and her blood singing in her veins. When he placed a kiss upon each of her knees, Rey sucked in a breath and fought to keep from buckling under the weight of his ministrations.

 

_ Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar. _

 

Ben tugged the skirt she wore over the swell of her hips before resting his forehead just below her naval. Rey took the moment place her hands in his hair, undoing the intricate braids there and running her nails over his scalp. The simple cotton underwear she wore joined her skirt on the tent floor. Ben’s warm breath ghosted across the thatch of curls above her center before another kiss was placed there. Like two magnets being slowly brought closer together, Rey felt the pull to him, the pull to be joined with him, deepening with each touch of his lips.

 

_ Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be. _

 

The thought,  _ this is as it should always be, _ came unbidden to her mind but she was at a loss as to who it belonged to. Was it a product of her own desires, or of Ben’s? Her chest rose and fell as each breath seemed to come faster than the last. Rey stared down at the man still on his knees in front of her. He was her teacher, her lover, her confidant, her  _ equal _ . With that word firmly in her heart, Rey lowered herself to her knees before him. Through the windows of his soul, she could see how each of his thoughts completed her own. He often spoke of how she was able to mirror him with her magic, an ability that enabled her to learn from him quickly, but it seemed obvious now that they were merely mirrors of each other. Two complete images that, when joined, created an even clearer picture together.

 

Ben’s featherlight touch sent more electricity across her skin as he brought his hands up to cup her breasts. His thumbs circled her nipples briefly before he placed a kiss to each one in turn. The lust she felt in her core somehow took a back seat as the feelings in her heart and soul began to take full control.

 

_ Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty. _

 

Slowly, so as not to break the air of unity around them, Rey began to unbutton the tunic he wore. His eyes never left hers as she completed her task by pushing the garment from his shoulders. The look in his gaze was something that surpassed need or hunger, dimmed any fire caused by lust. His eyes spoke volumes in a language no tongue could properly articulate. With hands on each side of his head, Rey tugged him closer, needing to feel the connection he offered freely. When his lips finally pressed against her own, it felt like the entire aether was rejoicing with them.

 

_ Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names. _

 

Ben laid her flat on the blankets, never breaking contact with her body, before shucking his trousers. As he lined himself up with her entrance, he knew there was no going back from this. Rey gave him a pleading look as her legs wrapped around him to bring him closer. It was as if every moment in the universe had been leading to this one instance in time. Ben leaned over her torso as he entered her in one swift motion, swallowing both of their sounds with his lips on hers. The feeling of completion, of serendipity, of the entirety of their lives culminating with the joining of their souls, overtook the last shreds of self-control they might have still possessed.

 

Steady thrusts and quickened breaths filled the air as words became irrelevant. Twin souls of one mind worked towards an end that would only become another beginning.

 

When Rey joined their hands together, lacing their fingers between them, Ben lost the rhythm he’d built in order to join their mouths once again. With merely a soft noise from where their bodies were joined, he rolled them so that Rey was sat astride him. Hair in disarray and haloed in moonlight, the radiance of her soul was blinding. He could feel her warming the darkest parts of him, hidden places he kept buried deep. For her and her magic, he was laid bare. She healed the jagged edges without even trying. He could feel the loneliness she fought in her lowest moments and chased it away. He made a solemn vow in that moment that she would never feel lonely again. When her breath came in a soft gasp, he knew that she understood. As she mirrored the oath in his mind, her body clenched around his. The tell-tale flutterings he’d only ever felt with his fingers before urged him towards the edge. Rey placed one pair of their joined hands against his chest, directly over his heart, so Ben did the same. With hands over each other’s hearts and the others clasped, they reached the precipice before flying into the stars together.

 

Electricity crackled in the air as they rode the waves of the shared climax. The very aether seemed to pulse in time with their vibrating bodies. The glow of their joined magic paled even the light of the moon above them. The power in the air around them rippled outwards, unable to be contained any longer.

 

In the stillness that followed, they were hesitant to part. The very idea of not being joined felt wrong. Rey shifted to the side, groaning as Ben’s softening cock slipped from her body. She instantly tangled her legs with his, already missing the connection to his body within seconds. As she placed a heated kiss to his lips, the confession fell between them.

 

“Ben, I’m falling for you.”

 

His eyes glistened softly as she heard his reply before her eyelids obscured him from view.

 

“I hope so, because I’ve already fallen for you.”

 

As they fell asleep wrapped up in a combination of blankets and each other, neither seemed to notice that their admissions to each other had come with a distinct absence of actual words.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! As always comments feed my muse!


	7. Convergence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to the best beta in the world drnucleus. She saves my ass so much and I would be absolutely lost without her. I hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Comments and kudos are my lifeblood so don’t be shy.

* * *

Leia jolted awake, the crackle of electricity hanging in the air made her immediately check for the glow of a fire. She could hear the commotion of multiple voices outside her tent and she figured she wasn’t the only person at the Gathering that had felt whatever that was. 

Quick as her body would allow, she donned the shawl her son had gifted her with earlier in the day and unzipped the flap-door to her tent. 

A cacophony if voices met her the second her feet touched the cool grass outside. 

“—never felt anything like that before—“

“What could it mean?”

“—the sheer power—“

“—aether is positively rippling—“

“—brightest aura around the moon I’ve ever—“

“My magic has never felt like this before.”

All at once, everyone seemed to notice the Priestess standing there. Leia fought against the urge to ask them all why they were looking at her because she didn’t know what had happened any more than they did. The thought of explanation seemed to spur each and every one of them into action, all clamoring around her for answers a Priestess should be able to provide. 

“You felt the power surge too Priestess Leia, what does it mean?”

“Is it a sign of the Goddess?”

“The aether feels different, stronger even.”

“What’s happened?”

Leia put her hands up to quiet everyone. She couldn’t possibly think with everyone working themselves into a frenzy. Quickly, she gathered her magic around her and sent waves of calm into the small crowd. Noticing two familiar faces out of the corner of her eye, Leia nodded surreptitiously. As Luminara’s and Ahsoka’s magic joined her own to lull those gathered down to a more peaceful level, she finally spoke. 

“I realize we’re all quite curious about what we just felt but the truth is that I have no idea what it was. I’m sure it’s nothing to be concerned about though. I do think it would be a good idea for us all to go back to our beds or wherever you’d like and meditate on it. The Goddess may reveal something to one of you before I’m privy to that information.”

She could tell they were somewhat dissatisfied with her answer, if it could even be called that, but so was she. As she turned to go back into her tent, she heard footfalls behind her. 

The Aunties would certainly want to talk. 

Luminara Unduli and Ahsoka Tano were founding members of the Jedha coven, esteemed members of the magical community, both much older than their physical appearances would have you believe, and yet they had easily become Leia’s closest confidantes. The two women had been around so much during the beginning of Ben’s life that the child had taken to calling them ‘the Aunties’ and the name stuck. 

“You know what it reminds me of,” Luminara began without preamble, conjuring a chair from the earth so she could sit comfortably, “the tales of convergence I heard as a little girl in Mombasa. The village elders would talk of a time when all forms of magic were one. Then after millennia of infighting and persecution, there were chasms. The fissures of time had broken through and small sects sprouted up all over, each practicing their own specific form. The elders would always remind us that the separation was only temporary; that one day, the sects would begin to converge once more and it would cause the aether to tremble with joy.”

Very few things shocked Leia. She’d been alive for far too long to be surprised by much anymore. But her sister’s words left her speechless.

Ahsoka hummed softly from her corner of the tent, fingers steepled in front of her face as she projected her own memories onto the ground at their feet. Leia gasped as she saw Ben and Rey sharing a heated kiss, backlit by the fire from the sky-clad ceremony.

“I thought as much,” Ahsoka gave a knowing smile as she looked up at her sisters. “When those two kissed at the ceremony, we all felt the shockwave. At the time, I just assumed it was because Ben and Rey are as powerful as they are and they simply got carried away in the emotion of it all. But now, after feeling this second stronger wave, I believe Luminara’s correct. Ben and Rey must have reunited the yoni and lunar.”

All over again, Leia’s words were caught in her throat. It made sense but it didn’t at the same time. While everyone knew that the lunar and yoni had once been singular and that eventually the two would return to that form, she’d never imagined in her wildest dreams that her own child and his partner would cause the convergence. It seemed too good to be true. 

“It can’t be,” Leia muttered, still not entirely able to accept the idea as it was being presented to her. “What could possibly trigger something of this magnitude?” At that, the two women looked at her as if she was a child struggling with some elementary task.

“Really,” Ahsoka chuckled. “You can’t fathom how a yoni witch and a lunar witch could trigger a convergence on a full moon?”

Leia shook her head. There had been plenty of full moons since the day she’d caught Rey and Ben all over each other in the shop. They must have been sleeping together at least since then, if not before. Ben had changed so much in the time that Rey had entered their lives. She could see the darkness in him being calmed, the boy she’d raised coming back to the surface after too long under evil’s influence. Like any mother, she worried for her child constantly, but Rey’s presence meant only good things for her son. She knew that in her soul. But a convergence? Was it possible?

“Think about it Leia,” Luminara urged, “they both took part in the ceremony earlier, it’s a full moon, their affection for each other only makes it more likely that they had sex afterwards. Intentionally or not, this power surge must have been their doing.”

Pulling her shawl closer around her shoulders, Leia decided that if she wanted answers, she would go to the supposed source. If Ben and Rey were the cause, she would have but to ask them.

“Excuse me sisters,” she muttered before heading back into the chilly night air.

She knew where Rey had set her tent up earlier in the day because Rose had helped her with finding a good spot. If she knew her son, Ben’s tent wouldn’t be far from Rey’s.

As she came up on the tiny little pop-tent, she could already tell that it was empty. If the silence that came from inside hadn’t tipped her off first, the distinct lack of Rey’s aura would have revealed the truth. Sure enough, upon opening the flap she saw that the tent merely held a small overnight bag and a sleeping bag that was still rolled up in the corner.

Leia zipped the door back up so bugs wouldn’t get into the girl’s things and turned her attention to her son’s family-size behemoth just a few yards away. Now that she was standing in front of it, she wasn’t quite sure how she’d missed it. While her ability to sense magic wasn’t quite up to par with her son’s, it was impossible to be near the area without feeling the overwhelming sense of power emanating from the tent. It was incredible.

She could hear soft snores coming from inside so she knew she wouldn’t be interrupting anything should she choose to check in on them. Decision made, Leia used her magic to silently open the tent and peak inside. The sight of a very naked Rey and Ben barely covered under a small mountain of blankets almost made her close her eyes out of an outdated sense of propriety. The only thing that stopped her was the sheer force of the magic radiating from the sleeping pair. It felt stronger than what she’d felt at the ceremony but undeniably the same. As she turned to leave, the scent of sex carried on a soft breeze wafted past her nose.

Could it be?

The Aunties were standing outside of Leia’s tent when she returned, looking at her expectantly.

“Well,” they prompted in unison.

Leia placed her hand on her chest as she felt her heart swelling with love and pride.

“I still can’t quite believe it.”

* * *

 

The magic in the air was thick enough that Rey was almost positive she could’ve touched it if she reached out. But that would require removing a body part that was resting quite comfortably on Ben’s naked chest and she certainly wasn’t ready to do that. She felt strong, powerful, like her magic had been recharged and then some. Her mind moved at the speed of light, shocking her with knowledge of spells and enchantments she couldn’t remember learning.

The sunlight filtering through the roof was blinding but welcome. It warmed what little bare skin wasn’t already being warmed by the living furnace that was Ben Solo.

As if her thinking of him carried a power of its own, Ben stirred behind her. His arm tightened around her midsection, closing the millimeters that separated them.

_ “Morning,” _ his voice didn’t vibrate across her skin as she’d expected but she could feel the deep tenor all the way to her her toes.

_ “Morning yourself,” _ Rey heard her own voice in answer as she licked her lips with a smile. Images of the night before flitted through her mind. A tingling sensation followed when she felt Ben tense slightly.

_ “So uh, last night wasn’t just the best dream I’ve ever had?” _ Rey found herself giggling as his morning stubble tickled the back of her neck. She stretched her neck to give him better access and reached back to direct his mouth where she wanted it.

_ “Well if it was, I suggest we go back to sleep so we can pick up where we left off.” _ His responding growl of approval brought a flush to her cheeks, entirely incongruous considering everything they’d done with each other.  _ “But we should probably get dressed and grab something to eat.” _ The growl she got in response to that suggestion was definitely not approval.

_ “I’d rather stay here with you until the world ends.” _

Rey felt herself dissolve at his words like sugar in warm water. In his arms, she was the center of the universe and nothing else mattered.

But they couldn’t just be a simple syrup waiting for Armageddon. There were things to do outside their little cocoon of pleasure.

_ “As perfect as that sounds, we need food.” _ Rey’s body evidently felt that her claim lacked adequate punctuation so it took the opportunity to rumble loudly. Ben barked out a laugh as he used his hand to rub a circle on her stomach.

_ “Well I won’t let it be said that I let my girl go hungry.” _ Rey rolled over and tucked herself under his chin, a contented sigh falling from her lips.

_ “Your girl, I like the sound of that.” _ She placed a soft kiss just above his heart before rolling away to get up from the mountain of blankets.  _ “I think I need to go over to my tent to get a change of clothes. Otherwise, I’ll just be wearing my stuff from yesterday and I’d really rather not do that.” _

The thought had no sooner formed in her mind before a charm pushed its way to the forefront.

A summoning charm.

When had she learned a summoning charm?

Rey held her hands out in front of her, palms upturned as if to receive a gift, and envisioned her duffle bag in her tent a few feet away. As her hands began to warm and glow, she smiled. This was a good charm to know. A moment longer and there was a sudden weight in the air above her hands. Rey’s eyes widened as she took in the sight of her duffle bag floating just inches over her palms. It glowed with the same soft luminescence as her hands. Rey gasped softly as she reached up to grab the bag from the air. There was a gentle fizzling feeling in the air around them, not unlike what she’d felt when she’d woken up. When she turned around with her duffle cradled in her arms, Ben was staring at her with the most awestruck look she’d ever seen on his face.

“Did you just mirror me?” His voice was rough from sleep, a fact she found odd because he hadn’t sounded like that before when he was talking. Had he?

Rey thought back to the times she’d mirrored Ben in the past. Whenever he would teach her a new spell and she didn’t feel entirely confidant in her ability to do it, she would rely on instinct. Her instinct always seemed to tell her to let her magic do what it wanted. It always wanted to copy Ben’s, tangle with his, become one with his. It didn’t always feel like there was a rhyme or reason to it. Her magic had a mind of its own and when she let it have free reign, it went straight to Ben.

“I don’t think so. Usually when I mirror you, I can feel my magic dip into yours. I didn’t feel anything like that just then. Why?” Rey sat the bag down on the floor of the the tent and began digging through to find some clothes to wear.

“The summoning charm you just used? I created it when I was younger because I couldn’t get the pronunciation right on a standard spell. Making a non-verbal one was my cheat. But I haven’t shown you that charm Rey. How did you do it?”

Rey found a simple peasant top and threw it over her head before replying.

_ “I don’t know, it just came to me. It feels like I know a lot of spells and things that I didn’t know yesterday.” _ When she’d righted the top on her torso, she looked up to see that Ben was once again staring at her with a gobsmacked expression.  _ “What?” _

_ “You’re telepathic now too?” _

It seemed like a bubble popped in the tent, both realizing at the same time what had been happening all morning.

“Get out of my head,” Rey squeaked as she fell backwards onto her still-bare ass. The chill served as a reminder to grab a pair of underwear and shorts and quickly tug them up her legs before standing again.

“No you get out of my head.” Ben’s eyes were wild as he raked his fingers through his hair.  _ “I’ve never been telepathic in my life. This has to be you Rey.” _

Rey crossed her arms and arched her eyebrow. “Interesting to be accused of being telepathic by someone using telepathy Ben.” She watched a flutter of emotions cross his face and realized that he didn’t seem to be in any more control of this newfound power than she was.  _ “Is it both of us then?” _ When he met her gaze, she realized once again how little control over it she possessed. “Shit, sorry.” After a moment to make sure she was actually going to say her next question out loud, Rey whispered, “Ben, what’s happening?”

His hands came to rest on her waist as he pulled her closer. He was still quite naked but Rey found it oddly comforting.

_ “I don’t know.” _ As he realized his words had travelled to her despite being unspoken, he groaned. “Fuck, we need to figure out what’s going on here so we can control it at the very least. I think we should go talk to my mom.”

Rey nodded as she shifted in his arms.  _ “You might want to get dressed first.” _

After Ben put some clothes on, they made their way across the grounds to where Leia’s tent was situated. Hand in hand, the two took notice of how many people’s glances lingered on them a bit longer than necessary. Some didn’t even try to hide it, openly staring at them as they walked by. When Leia’s tent came into view, they could see two additional figures alongside the Priestess.

As they got closer, Ben breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was the Aunties. If his mother couldn’t help, maybe they would know something.

The distinct notion that they were the subject on everyone’s minds enveloped the two as they stepped into Leia’s tent. The three older women all stopped talking at once in favor of staring at the couple in the entryway. 

Minutes passed, eyes flitting from one person to the next, until Leia stepped forward. A little smile curled at her lips when she saw their joined hands between them. Her movements were lightning quick as she grabbed their hands and held them in front of her, a look of reverence on her face.

She gasped softly as the power emanating from the young witches washed over her. It was easily one of the most radiant sensations she’d felt in her lifetime.

“It’s true,” she whispered. Ben opened his mouth to ask what everyone was being weird about but Leia continued. “Luminara, Ahsoka, you were right. Come here and feel this.”

As Luminara waved her hand, the earthen chair she’d conjured rose higher from the ground to assist her in standing up. Ahsoka took her by the arm and helped her the rest of the way. When they stopped beside Leia, she transferred Ben and Rey’s hands to them. Both women jolted at the crackle of electricity that responded to their touch. The familiar caress of lunar magic licked at their skin but there was something else mixed in. Something more carnal.

They turned back to Leia and merely nodded their heads, confirming they’d sensed the same.

Rey’s confusion over what exactly was happening only multiplied since Ben’s own confusion had mixed into hers.

“I’ve heard the prophecies all my life,” Leia’s voice had gone slightly watery, “but I never could’ve imagined I would se the convergence of the lunar and yoni in my lifetime.” She reached out to cup Ben’s cheek as she continued, “and with my own son as half of it too.”

Ben gripped Rey’s hand a little tighter, pulling her closer to him. He didn’t know what they were all on about but brand new telepathy seemed like a more pressing issue than anything else at hand.

Once more, however, before he could force his mouth to make any sounds, he felt that familiar presence that sent a unpleasant slither up his spine. One look at Rey and he could tell she felt it too. Looking at each other, they didn’t see the curious look Leia gave them regarding their identical reactions to the arrival of her twin.

“So it’s true then,” the gruff voice echoed behind them. Ben tensed up briefly only to have Rey place a hand on his chest. Then, like a balm to his soul, her voice resounded in his head, reminding him that she was here with him and she wasn’t going anywhere. Luke’s voice dripped with condescension as he spoke, “the two of you triggered the convergence.”

The word, or perhaps the one that spoke it last, grated on Ben’s last nerve.

“Okay enough,” his voice boomed, “I don’t know what the fuck you all are on about with prophecies or convergences or whatever. Rey and I woke up this morning being able to read each other’s minds and we’d like some help figuring that out if you don’t mind.”

Leia and the Aunties shared a knowing look, this new information merely cementing their belief that a convergence had indeed taken place between the two young lovers. Luke, however, scoffed and shook his head.

“Of course you need help,” he snapped, “the two of you are messing with powers you don’t fully understand so when something this huge happens you have no clue how to handle it. This kind of foolishness is the exact thing that attracts unwanted attention from people like Snoke and his Collection.”

Ben scoffed at his uncle’s words and rolled his eyes. “Oh please, it’s stupid to think Snoke would give a shit about me after all this time and he doesn’t even know Rey exists. I doubt there’s anything to worry about there old man.”

Luke’s eyes flashed a bright green as he invaded Ben’s space. Rey could feel Ben’s patience wearing thin but she had no idea how to assert herself between the two powerful men. 

“You insolent child, this entire Gathering felt the power surge the two of you caused last night! If you think for one second that an extremely powerful warlock like Snoke wouldn’t have felt it as well, then you’re even more of an idiot than I originally thought!”

As the two began to argue back and forth, Rey felt the air as it charged with electricity. It was the same as when she used her magic to fix cars at the garage. She heard Leia gasp behind her and when she turned around,  she saw that the tent’s contents were all hovering a few feet above the ground. Rey was reminded of the story Ben had told her about the death of his father and knew she had to do something.

The two men were now practically yelling insults at each other, vitriol in each word as sharp as any knife. If it escalated any further, someone was going to get hurt.

Rey gathered her rejuvenated magic around her and pulled Ben back a foot. Before he realized anything had happened, she stepped in between them. With her hands on Ben’s face directing his gaze to her own, Rey pulled him down so that his forehead could press against hers. His breathing began to slow immediately, the calming effect Rey had over him felt like a blanket he could wrap himself in forever. When he felt like he could once again open his eyes without seeing red, Ben wrapped his arms around Rey’s shoulders and tucked her into his chest.

_ “Thank you,” _ his words whispered across their minds. Rey merely nodded and held him tighter.

Luke quickly masked his astonishment over the young woman’s effect on his nephew. Their relationship wouldn’t matter if they weren’t alive to enjoy it.

“Now that you two have triggered the lunar and yoni convergence, Snoke will more than likely want you both.” A defeated sigh passed through his lips as he shook his head. “I knew it was only a matter of time before Ben would become Kylo Ren once again.”

Even with Rey in his arms, hearing that name again sent Ben’s mind into a tailspin. Rey found herself dragged along for the ride, images of death and destruction clouded their minds in tandem. Of a younger Ben being goaded into acts of atrocity for the sake of a disfigured megalomaniac warlock’s approval. Because that was the only approval available to him.

Rey shook herself, and Ben, of the memories and turned on the man who had uttered that name.

“How fucking dare you! You have some nerve holding that against Ben when he was practically a child! What he needed during that time of his life was support and love from his family but what he got was judgement and scorn! How would you act if you wanted out of a situation but felt like you didn’t have a home to return to? Get off your high horse.” Rey could feel Ben tugging on her hand but she was on a roll. “And besides, this Snoke asshole can’t force us to work with him. Our choices are our own and I trust the two of us to make the right one.”

Luke’s grip tightened on his staff as he muttered, “Ben has already made the wrong choice once before, and it cost his father his life.”

All at once, the fairy lights Leia had hanging around the tent sparked to life. A few lanterns scattered around the floor shone blinding in their intensity. Every electronic device began beeping and lighting up like crazy. Ben felt electricity sparking from the tips of Rey’s fingers as he kept her hand in his own. 

Her voice had morphed into a primal growl as she yelled at Luke.

“Oh fuck you for bringing that up, you old jackass! The death of his father is what made Ben realized he’d gone too far and there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t regret his actions that day. Just because you’re set in your ways doesn’t mean everyone else is as intractable. People can change for the better. You’d know that if you gave a rat’s ass about someone other than yourself.”

As she practically spat the last word, a jolt of lightning shot from her free hand into the dirt near Luke’s feet. A scorched circle was left behind as evidence which forced Rey to realize what she’d done.

Ben instantly pulled her backwards into his chest and turned to shield her, fully expecting his uncle to retaliate. When no magic was hurled in their direction, he turned to see that his mother was standing in the space he’d created between them. 

“That’s enough, from all of you.” She spoke with all the authority of a mother, sister, Priestess, and a woman merely tired of everyone’s bullshit. She made eye contact with Luke, Ben, and Rey in turn to make sure everyone knew just whose bullshit she was tired of. “If I know anything about the stubbornness of this family, it’s that you’ll all keep arguing until someone stops you. So I’m stopping it here and now. Our priority is keeping the two of you safe while we sort out just what this convergence means for you and for the rest of us. Whether Snoke knows about this or not, it’s only a matter of time before some other powerful warlock comes knocking. Now, while I don’t want an all out war on our hands, I will not hesitate to bring the full might and power of the Goddess down on anyone stupid enough to threaten my family.”

* * *

 

Rey had been silent almost the entire ride back into Danvers, only speaking once to request that Ben drive directly to his house instead of dropping her off at her own first. They didn’t even bother taking anything out of the car. Both of them walked into the house and sat down on the couch.

It didn’t take very long for Rey’s mind to break the silence though.

_ “This is too much. Too too much. I’ve barely got control of my own magic and now I’ve got lunar magic to worry about too. Everything is changing. It’s too fast. How am I supposed to handle this? Why does everything have to change all at the same time?” _

Ben, hearing all of these thoughts as clear as day, turned to Rey. As he pushed her hair out of her face, she took a deep breath. 

“Hey, nothing has to change if you don’t want it to. Our relationship can stay the same if that’ll make you feel better about this whole mess.”

Hearing Ben make suggestions she knew he hated just to try and make her more comfortable made her heart melt a bit.

“Ben, we managed to unite two forms of magic that have been separate for centuries. I’d say our relationship has definitely changed.” She watched as his jaw tightened, a jaw she wanted run her lips across again.

“That was out of our control. I would never have forced this kind of bond on you if I’d have known beforehand.” He looked almost shy for a moment before he spoke again. “I mean, I wanted this relationship to progress of course, but I wanted it to be because we decided it.”

Rey smiled fondly as she thought back to the actions that had no doubt triggered the convergence they were responsible for. 

“Well, technically, by deciding to have sex, we did decide. We just didn’t know how far the aether was going to go with our decision.” 

Ben smiled as he realized that Rey meant she was perfectly fine with the direction they’d taken their relationship, that it was the convergence she’d been freaking out about, not their status as a couple. Thinking about them as an actual couple rather than just fuck-buddies made him so happy. He tilted her chin up slightly and pressed a kiss to her mouth. Rey’s enthusiastic response sent a tingle down his spine as her tongue curled around his own.

_ “I never thought I’d have a guy in my head but I’m quite pleased that it’s you.” _

Her thoughts entering his head caused Ben to snort into their kiss. It effectively ruined the moment but that didn’t bother him.

“I’m happy you’re the one in my head too.” At his response, Rey curled into his chest, a content sound emanating from her throat. “However, in addition to learning as much as we can about this bond and the convergence, we are going to have to learn how to control this telepathy so we don’t drive each other insane with it.”

* * *

 

Rey smiled down at her phone as re-read Ben’s text message. It was apparently slow at the store because his messages had been practically constant since she’d taken her lunch break. She looked at the picture he’d sent, a very old looking book with a caption that said “ancient witches had terrible handwriting”. They’d been spending most of the their free time researching convergence prophecies and instances of magical bonds. Being the proprietor of an occult shop, Ben had access to many different avenues of research. The main issue was that something like this hadn’t happened in any of their lifetimes so anything they found that could possibly be of use was older than dirt.

In addition to their research, they’d also been testing the limits of their bond and their control over it.

She’d never felt so close to another human being.

Rey had just spooned the last bite of her leftover cheeseburger pasta into her mouth when the door to the break room opened. She looked up so see Finn and Poe standing side by side on the other side of the room.

Ever since the day she’d told them about being a witch, they’d avoided the topic of magic altogether. She suspected that Ben had said something to them the day he’d brought her lunch and she’d discovered her technopathy because they’d been making an effort to be less weird around her. But the fact remained that their relationship was strained.

Finn shoved at Poe to get him to make the trek across the room. Rey eyed them both warily.

She really didn’t want to have an argument with them, especially when she had all this new magical information coursing through her body that she didn’t know how to control entirely yet. She and Ben had been working on teaching her all the new spells and stuff she’d copied from his mind but it was slow going. Ben was incredibly powerful and incredibly knowledgeable about that power. Spells that were second nature to him because he’d been using them his entire life weren’t as easy to teach someone else as one would think.

“Um, Rey, can the three of us chat for a minute?” The two men waited until she nodded before sitting down in the chairs across the table from her. She hated the apprehension in Poe’s voice.

“So, Poe and I have been keeping an eye on you, because we were worried. We thought you’d gotten mixed up in some bad shit and we didn’t want anything to happen to you. But we realize now that we were wrong. We were wrong for being so close-minded and wrong for making you feel bad about something that’s important to you.” As Finn took a breath, she looked from him to Poe. She could see the remorse in their eyes. 

“You two thought I was crazy,” she reminded them softly. “What changed your mind?”

Poe raked a hand through his silver streaked curls and blew out a puff of air. He chuckled to himself for a moment before he spoke.

“A few things actually. That guy that came by a few weeks back told us we were being assholes and then made a damn pen float in the air. That was pretty eye opening. By the way, are you with that guy??

Rey laughed because of course Poe would get distracted by her love life in the middle of what she assumed was going to be an apology.

“That guy’s name is Ben and yes, we are together.” Until she knew more about how they were going to take her magical status, she didn’t feel like sharing any more about Ben than she needed to. Finn took the hint and nodded his head.

“We’re happy for you then. Another thing is when we were watching you, we saw you do some things in the garage that basically go against all known laws of physics. And you like, you have these conversations with the cars you work on, like they’re telling you what’s wrong with them. All of it together made us realize that you weren’t crazy and we were being stupid.”

Poe took the opportunity to reach across the table. She let him take her hand in his as he began to speak.

“So this is us hoping that you can forgive us for being closed minded assholes because we miss you and it’d be really cool if you could show us your witchy things some time.”

Finn reached across and placed his hand on top of theirs.

“You know, if you’re allowed to do that. If there’s some kind of No Muggle policy you have to abide by, that’s cool.”

Rey couldn’t help laughing at Finn’s joke. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest and she could breathe easier. She had her brothers back and they were accepting her for who she was. They wanted to be a part of her whole life, even the bits that maybe frightened them a bit.

“As far as I know, muggles are perfectly welcome. Most witches simply choose to keep the magical side of themselves secret for safety reasons. Not everyone reacts positively.”

Her words made Finn’s face fall as he squeezed her hand.

“We pretty much proved that point, didn’t we?” Rey nodded and squeezed their hands in return. “But the important thing is that we love you Rey, and we want you to know that you’re important to us. We want you to feel comfortable sharing these things with us. And you should bring your Ben around too. Our first impression was pretty much shit with him and we’d very much like your giant boyfriend who can make things float with his mind didn’t think we were complete assholes.”

“I think he’d like that, meeting you guys under better circumstances. Plus, things have kind of escalated with us lately and it’s been killing that I wasn’t able to talk to you two about it.”

With her admission, Rey began to fill the men in on everything that had been happening in her life in the weeks they’d missed out on. She told them everything, about making herself float by masturbation, about meeting Ben, learning that she was a yoni witch, training with Ben, getting closer to Ben, the Gathering, the convergence they’d caused, their bond. She left nothing out. It just felt so good to talk about everything with her brothers finally, two people who weren’t involved in that world and could provide their objective opinions should she ask for them. Mostly, they just listened, occasionally requesting for her to explain something further.

It felt right, having her family back.

Outside the garage, a cunning smile turned the corners of Phasma’s mouth upwards. She quickly ended her listening enchantment and pulled her phone out.

“Sir, it’s true. Kylo and Rey have united the lunar and the yoni. She just told her friends.”

The ancient man’s voice crackled on the other end of the line. “Then we’ll need to discuss plans for collecting them soon. If they’re allowed to get much stronger together, they’ll be even more difficult to capture. Hux should still be near that little shop of Kylo’s keeping an eye on him. Collect him from his duties and get back to the compound.”

The call ended and Phasma started the car. Completely quiet, the electric engine would alert no one to her presence. She needed to get Armitage so he didn’t do something stupid that would jeopardize their mission, like confronting Kylo. She’d tried to persuade their master to allow her to watch Kylo while Armitage would keep an eye on the girl. When he’d refused, she understood that her lover was being tested. Would his loyalty to the Supreme Leader outweigh his need to act on his grudge? She hoped so for both of their sakes.

 


End file.
